FCTA Inaugurates Committee On Audit Of Buildings

In a bid to reduce the menace of building collapse, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has approved a ministerial committee on post development audit of buildings in the federal capital city, Abuja.

The coordinator of Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Chief Felix Amechi Obuah, who inaugurated the committee yesterday, said that it would provide accurate records of all development permits issued, thereby reducing cases of unapproved development, illegal conversion of land use, and land grabbing.

He said the committee would enhance the provision of data on the consumption of the city’s utilities and services such as water, electricity and connectivity to sewer lines, which would also detect illegal connections to these facilities, denying government revenue.

According to him, another projected benefit is the provision of data for accurate taxation and enhanced revenue generation since all buildings and properties would be brought to the FCT internal revenue tax net which would generate billions of naira

to the FCT Administration.

Obuah further said the committee is also expected to provide data on research on city planning, development and management, because Abuja is a success story in the field of city planning, development and management.

The coordinator said the FCT minister Nyesom Wike set up the committee to take a cursory look at the trend of the city’s development and chart a more robust future course for the city’s development, which is in tandem with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.

He added that the exercise which would last six months, would enhance security and employment since consultants and experts would be engaged to provide the necessary expertise and service.

“This committee is critical to the sustainable development of our dear city, and it is our collective duty to ensure that it succeeds.  On our part, the FCT minister is committed to seeing that the necessary logistics needed for the successful completion of this exercise are provided.  Together, we will carry out this exercise and together, we will chart a new course for the planning and development of our dear city that is evidence-based and in the end bequeath a sustainable city legacy to future generations,” he said.

Chairman of the Committee, TPL Mukhtar  Galadima,  who described its work as an honourable but onerous task, however pledged that members of the committee are not going to disappoint the authority.

Galadima, who doubles as Director, Department of Development Control said: “By the grace of God, and with your full support, we are going to do justice to this exercise, because we have been opportune to write our names in gold, if we do this work well.

“I want to call on my co-travelers in this committee that this is a very important task that has been given to us, let’s do it judiciously, so the legacy of the FCTA will not be complete without mentioning this committee. So, I want to assure that we will not disappoint you (AMMC Coordinator), the Hon. Minister and the Federal Capital Territory Administration.”