FG Introduces Property Tax In Abuja - ... Lifts Ban On Land Allocation

Bankole Makinde, Abuja - 01.03.2008

THE federal government over the weekend announced the introduction of property tax in Abuja which would be compulsorily paid by all owners of landed property in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Minister of FCT, Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar, who disclosed the federal government’s move, said the decision was inevitable given the fact that the annual budgetary allocation to the FCT had dropped from N75 billion to N49 billion.

To compensate the residents, Dr. Umar said facilities would now be provided at all allocated lands in the FCT which hitherto, according to him, had been a mirage.

The minister also stated that President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had approved the lifting of the ban on land allocation in the FCT.

Dr. Modibbo made these revelations at the maiden edition of the Abuja Geographical Information System (AGIS) open-house ceremony which held in Abuja.

Speaking on the occasion, the General Manager of AGIS, Dr. Ismail Iro, said the initial mandate of AGIS, which was established in 2004, had actually consumed time initially budgeted in the computerisation contract; which explains why a project that was supposed to last only six months is now in its fifth year.

He, however, expressed satisfaction that the project had gradually transformed into a dynamic agency of the FCT Administration with the broader mandate of eliminating the crude land record system and arresting the chaotic and sequential distortion of land records.