Levy landed property in Abuja, Ganduje urges Bello

Governor of Kano State and former retired staff of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has said that the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) would increase improve tremendously to solve its financial obligations should the present administration heed to good advice to embark on property taxation as it is done elsewhere in the world.

Property taxation in the nation’s capital, Abuja, has remained elusive as several administrations have lacked the political will to hold the bull by the horn owing to the fact that 75 percent of the properties are owned by the ruling power block counting from the past and present.

Governor Ganduje, who gave the advice while speaking with journalists during a visit to Minister of FCT, recently, urged the Minister to tax all landed property in the FCT, as this would increase his revenue generation to cushion some financial problems.

According to the Governor, taxing the many unoccupied mansions scattered across the FCT would not only increase Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the FCT Administration and enable it deliver more services and infrastructure, but would also bring down the cost of housing in the territory and help in tackling the increasing housing deficit problem.

He said: “As a Governor of Kano State and a Governor in Nigeria, you know that the oil money is going down, so there is no reason why he should not tax property in the city to get increased Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). It is very important.”

On the reason for his visit to the Minister, Gov. Ganduje said: “I am here (FCT Minister’s office) in order to discuss about land allocation to Kano State Housing Cooperation. It had been on for the past 15 years, but today, the minister and I are very happy about development of the property, where a mass housing project will be completed by the end of the year.

Further providing reason for the construction of a Kano State housing estate in Abuja, Ganduje said: “FCT is the Centre of Unity of this country and so every federating unit should have a property here so as to have a sense of belonging to the federation”

Appraising the FCT minister’s performance so far, the Kano State Governor said: “The Honourable Minister is doing very, very well. The most important thing here is to maintain the original master plan (Abuja Master Plan), which has to do with maintaining the green areas and removing the shanties. In the past, some of the Ministers (of the FCT) succeeded in destroying the Master Plan”.

Investigation has reliably revealed that a past Federal Capital Territory Minister made efforts at initiating a bill that would appropriately tax owners of all landed property in the FCT, but the bill could not get the desired legislative attention as it was thrown out before getting to any reading.

Chats with some residents regarding their opinion on the issue revealed another dimension besides IGR loss, as they decried a situation whereby houses abound in every part of the nation’s capital, but many do not have a place to lay their heads.

Meanwhile, the Kano State Governor, who also was former staff of the FCTA and the Secretary of resettlement policy in the FCTA, has said that Kano State Housing Estate in Abuja, will in measure jack up the population of the city, as the intention is to help the administration fight housing deficit in the future.

Also, he remarked that the gesture is for the indigenes of Kano State resident in Abuja to be free from shelter problems.

“It is also to serve as economic boost to the state and also as a source of long term investment that every administration of Kano State would benefit from. We are also looking at benefiting from the economic potentials of the FCT as the Federal Capital Territory and at the moment the face of Nigeria to the international community”.