By Ifeoluwa Odunayo
The Federal Capital Territory Administration on Monday took bold steps in its sweeping land enforcement drive by sealing off the Federal Inland Revenue Service office in Zone Five, Abuja, over twenty five years of unpaid ground rent.
The move is part of the ongoing clampdown on 4,794 properties across the city, targeting decades of default in ground rent payments.
Despite its status as a key government agency, the FIRS office was among the first high profile buildings affected, signaling that the FCTA is not backing down from its push to enforce compliance without exception.
“This exercise will continue irrespective of who owns the property,” an FCTA official had warned last week, as high level lobbying failed to halt the process.
Also affected was an Access Bank branch in Wuse, sealed after it was found to have neglected rent obligations for over twenty years.
The FCTA’s firm actions reflect a new era of strict land management, aimed at recovering billions in lost revenue and restoring order to the city’s property records.
