By Daniel Tyokua
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike on Friday issued new conditions for acquisition of land in Abuja.
He said the new requirements for acquisition of land in the Federal Capital Territory particularly include National Identity Number (NIN) and Biometric Verification Number (BVN).
Wike insisted that the criteria must be met before Certificate of Occupancy (C of O), will be issued to an individual, saying the new features were for security and revenue generation.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja, Wike also noted that existing landowners in the capital must get recertification to incorporate these new features.
“There are a lot of discrepancies, a lot of cloning of C-of-Os, so we have come up with an idea that every allottee who seeks and applies for a C-of-O must supply his NIN; this is one of the features we are going to put in the new C-of-O,” he said.
“If a corporate body doesn’t have an NIN and they have a property, they must put their BVN. So many persons have not registered, and this will make them go and re-register.”
Addressing the issue of existing landlords with C-of-Os, Wike stated that they would only be required to pay a nominal fee for recertification.
“For everyone who has a C-of-O, they will come for a recertification, so that we can incorporate the NIN or BVN,” he said.
“Those who had a C-of-O before don’t need to pay money again; the highest they can pay is N50,000, and corporate bodies will pay N100,000. It helps in terms of security; it also helps to improve our revenue generation.”
“There are people who own seven properties, so this will identify them so they can pay taxes.”
Wike further stated that other benefits of this initiative are in identifying property owners accurately for tax purposes.
