On annual basis, the Federal Capital Territory losses about N600 billion in terms of funds that should have accrued to it from the real estate sector, the Ad-hoc Committee on the investigation of operations of real estate developers has uncovered.
The Adhoc Committee’s chairman Blessing Onyeche Onuh’s position was corroborated by the FCT Minister, Musa Bello who has threatened to sanitise the sector in due course.
Onuh made the revelation at a two-day workshop organized by the House of Representative Investigate Ad-hoc Committee on Mass Housing /Real Estate Development in the FCT, which was held at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja on Monday in Abuja.
She explained that the workshop is to x-ray the economy of the real estate industry, noting that, “we shall clearly articulate the value chain in this multi-trillion naira industry and identify why the FCT has not been getting its fair share.
According to her, “This committee’s preliminary findings indicated that the FCT has been losing an estimated N600 billion annually in revenues accruable to it from the real estate sector.
“Take for example a house or land is sold for N500,000,000.00 (five hundred million naira), the lawyer gets his legal fee, the agent gets his brokerage fee, the bank gets its transaction charges and the government gets nothing if the transaction is not presented for registration.
“And this kind of transactions go on in volumes every day unregulated, leaving the government with the perennial struggles of meeting up its responsibility of providing modern amenities for its people. Many of these transactions are done in cash making the industry a safe haven for money laundering and illicit financial flows. The time to change the narratives is now”, she stated.
She reminded the FCT Minister of his constitutional powers to enforce the provisions of the law establishing the federal capital territory, insisting that such powers when enforced would go a long way in helping Nigerians, irrespective of where they reside.
“Her words, “We as lawmakers and representatives of the Nigerian people shall never relent in giving you the needed support to carry out your constitutional duties. Posterity shall hold us all to judgement if we all abuse this trust either by our actions or inactions”.
