By Ismaila Jimoh, Abuja
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barr. Nyesom Wike has said that the greatest challenge facing the administration lies in the refusal of some residents of the territory to pay ground rents and other taxes.
Wike made this known on Wednesday after carrying out an inspection of some ongoing projects in Abuja.
The Minister expressed displeasure that while residents wanted infrastructure in the territory, they failed to do their own part which is to pay their taxes as at when due.
He disclosed that many of the debtors are owning as much as 20 years, even though the ground rent remained the same for many years.
He hinted of the possible increase in the ground rent charges in the FCT.
“My greatest challenge is the challenge of people refusing to pay their money. I will speak on that in the next media chat. And people just want facilities, people want infrastructure. But nobody asks, where are you getting these funds? Abuja is not one of the oil cities, we only rely on taxes. These are not new taxes. These are taxes that have been here for years.
” It is unfortunate that most elites own houses overseas. They know the implication of not paying taxes, they know such houses are gone. But when it comes to your own country, you don’t want to do that, simply because nobody wants to obey the law, everybody thinks there are no sanctions.
” Look at the years, 20 something years, 30 something years. And how much is it? We have not increased the ground rent, but we are working towards that, we will do that, I can assure. The President has given a waiver of two weeks. Let nobody thinks that blackmail or whatever will stop us, we will do what we are supposed to do,” he stated.
He was enjoined residents to pay their taxes and ground rents to aid development in the nation’s capital.
“If you pay tax, you will see that it will be a different thing. And that’s what we are trying to do,” he added.
END.
