By Daniel Tyokua
The minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) malam Muhammad Bello has said his administration in collaboration with anti-graft agencies have begun tracking of properties bought with ill gotten money across the territory.
He said with the aid of Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria, National Assembly, EFCC and ICPC most of the properties bought based on ill gotten money used as a means of laundering have been identified in the nation’s capital, Abuja.
Bello disclosed this during the inauguration of Abuja Property Development Company (APDC) headquarters in Abuja at the weekend.
Though he didn’t mentioned the number of the properties, but said, “we are working very closely with REDAN, we are working closely with the National Assembly and a number of properties have been identified and we are also working closely with the ICPC and the EFCC because many of those properties are bought based on ill-gotten money and they use them as means of laundering. All these will no longer be accepted”
The minister stated that no property will be allowed to stand without meeting up the laid down criteria by the Department of Development Control (DCC)
According to him, “for every property that is allowed to stand and an official somewhere has not done his or her work, we will not allow these officials as well because at the end of the day, it is the off takers that lose out because they spend money.
“And talking of off-takers, I want to advise anybody who wants to buy any property in any estate in Abuja to do proper diligence and the first place to do it, you come to the FCT, go to the relevant department and confirm that, that particular Estate is genuine and then confirm that the person himself is genuine. Ensure that before you go into any transaction, you sign the right papers, get a solicitors who know property business in Abuja to guide you. That way, I think a lot of people can save money”
He said as an administration there will be proper enforcement, “On our own part, we are going to enforce planning in the establishment of Estates. All Estates, ordinarily, should have provisions for play areas, provision for community centres/shopping facilities, places for worship and in some areas also, depending on the size, provisions for places for educational activities”.
The minister asked all intending off-takers to be on alert while going into any property transactions.
