The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, (FCTA), Nyesom Wike says the FCT Administration will partner with genuine estate developers to reduce the housing shortfall in the nation’s capital.
Wike stated this when he received a delegation from the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), FCT Chapter, led by its Chairman, Dr Okoruwa Ehikioya.
The minister highlighted the importance of collaboration in real estate development to reduce the housing deficit in the country and commended the association for partnering with the government.
He affirmed that the FCTA will only go into partnerships that will be mutually beneficial, adding that the administration has introduced measures to ensure that only genuine developers participate in real estate development.
The minister said henceforth a financial institution must guarantee that an estate developer has the financial capacity to carry out any project, while the developer must also commit to completing the project within a specified time frame or forfeit the land titles without conditions.
“Secondly, you will undertake that this project must be started and finished within a given timeframe, without any condition attached to that title, while failure to develop this, the government is entitled to take back their land no matter what form of development you have put in there. Government is entitled to take their land back,” he said.
Wike stressed that government will not allocate land to individuals or organisations interested in selling allocated land. “Government on its own can decide to sell land. So, why would the government give out the land for a housing estate and then you’re selling the land to people? We could as well have sold the land ourselves,” he said.
Wike, who decried that many real estate developers in the FCT were not fulfilling their obligations as regards the payment of taxes relating to ground rents and the sale of properties, reiterated that the government requires revenue to carry out developmental activities.
He said that the FCT administration as a policy will only sign letters of consent when it is determined that all the fees accruable to the government have been paid in full as provided by law.
Wike also expressed worries about the issues of land grabbing and assured that the administration will continue to address the situation.
Responding, Ehikioya said the visit was to thank the minister for his development efforts and expressed their desire for partnership in estate developments.
He said the issues of land grabbing and land racketeering have bedeviled the real estate sector, and cast them in a bad light and put their members in difficult situations. He revealed that the association has moved to proffer solutions to some of the existing problems.
Ehikioya further expressed the desire to collaborate with the FCT Administration to provide comfortable and affordable housing, saying “We are looking at partnering with your administration and producing about 15, 000 housing units in the FCT.”
