FCTA seals FIRS office, Access bank, Total filling station over ground rent arrears

Officials from the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) have taken strict measures by sealing the Wuse Zone 5 office of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) due to non-payment of Ground Rent for 25 years.

In addition to the FIRS office, an Access Bank branch and a Total petrol station in Wuse District were also sealed for decades of unpaid ground rents. Notably, the bank had not settled its ground rent obligations for 34 years.

Earlier in March, the administration revoked a staggering 4,794 property titles for failures to pay ground rents ranging from 10 to 43 years. Many other property owners with outstanding payments of less than 10 years were granted a 21-day grace period to settle their debts to avoid similar repercussions.

As of last Friday, the administration was still working to reconcile its accounts to determine who had made payments during the grace period. However, they announced their intention to begin taking possession of the 4,794 properties for which titles had been revoked.

It is important to note that the property occupied by Access Bank was officially allocated to Rana Tahir Furniture Nigeria Limited, raising questions about whether the bank had purchased the property or was leasing it from the original allottee. Vanguard has not yet been able to confirm this detail.

Source: Vanguard newspaper