Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike said those who contravened the Land Use Act must be recertified and pay penalties.
He stated this while inaugurating a task force on the issuance of certificates of occupancy (C of O) for mass housing and the recovery of land use contravention fees.
While inaugurating the task force in Abuja yesterday, Wike said that the measure was to ensure that each of the houses in mass housing estates has its own C of O and paid for.
The minister expressed disappointment that virtually all residential areas have been turned into commercial areas, adding that something must be done about it.
According to Wike, some of those given approval for residential buildings, converted them to commercial structures, while those given for commercial have also converted them to building residential houses.
He said “there must be a recertification and there must be penalties. The only way people can be deterred from doing this is to make sure that we discourage them and discouraging them means that if you want to build, you have a penalty to pay, and that penalty must be severe.”
The minister asked the task force to open two dedicated bank accounts for the assignment: one for non-compliance with the Land Use Act and the other for the C of O.
The committee inaugurated, Wike said will be chaired by the senior special assistant to the FCT minister on lands, urban and regional planning, Mr Michael Chinda.
The executive secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority, Mr Shehu Ahmad, will serve as the secretary.
Responding on behalf of the members, Chinda expressed the readiness of the task force team to get to work and promised not to disappoint the minister, thereby promising to deliver on the task within a month.
