Ground rent: We won’t succumb to blackmail – Wike vows

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike has said that he would not be intimidated or threatened by blackmail from people owing ground rents on their properties.

Speaking on Wednesday while inspecting some projects within the Abujq, Wike said landowners in the territory enjoy owing the government.

Answering questions from journalists Wike said his greatest challenge as a Minister of the FCT in the past two years has been the failure of people to pay ground rent.

“I shall speak on that in the next media chat, people just want facilities, people want infrastructure but nobody asks, where are you getting this fund from?

“Abuja is not one of the oil cities, we only rely on taxes,” Wike said.

Explaining that these taxes are not new, Wike said it is unfortunate that most of the house owners in Abuja, also own houses in foreign countries and know the implications of not paying taxes.

“But when it comes to your own country, you don’t want to do that simply because nobody wants to obey laws knowing there are no sanctions.

“That it did not happen yesterday does not mean it will not happen today. That it did not happen today does not mean that it will not happen tomorrow,” the Minister stated.

He also assured the residents of the FCT that his administration would continue to ensure that all the infrastructure needed for ease of life and development of the territory would be made available.

He said, “How much is it? We’ve not increased the ground rent, but we are working towards that

“The president has given the window of two weeks, so let nobody think that blackmail or whatever will stop us,” he added.