The 14-day grace approved by President Ahmed Bola Tinubu for the defaulters of ground rents payment in the Federal Capital Territory expires today.
Daily Trust reports that over 4700 properties were revoked by the FCT Administration for failure to pay ground rents for between 10 and 43 years.
The administration had started sealing off the affected properties before President Ahmed Bola Tinubu intervened and gave a 14-day grace for the affected defaulters to pay up.
They were, however, fined between N2 million and N5 million, depending on the location of such property in addition to the amount being owed as ground rent.
A source at the Abuja Geographical Information System (AGIS) confirmed that the 14-day grace would end today but there has not been further directive on the next step.
The AGIS’s top officer, who sought anonymity, said many of the defaulters had paid up but declined to confirm whether notable offices such as those of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Peoples Democratic Pary, the Ibro Hotels, which were earlier sealed, have paid up.
The Special Assistant on Public Communication & Social Media to the FCT Minister, Lere Olayinka, had earlier told our reporter that the payments were being done online through remitter and would be difficult to know who and who had paid at this stage.
The source at the AGIS said there had been no instruction to stop the payment, adding that payment continues today until there are contrary directives from the higher authorities.
Abuja Metro reports that properties belonging to individuals, business entities, foreign missions, government and political parties were among those earlier sealed by the Wike-led FCT Administration.
