The FCT Minister, Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed has expressed the commitment of his Administration to stamping out corruption in its entire ramifications.
The Minister gave this assurance, while receiving the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Lamorde, who paid him a courtesy call in his office on Thursday.
Mohammed called for closer collaboration with all the Anti-Corruption Agencies particularly the EFCC to be able to achieve the desire of his Administration.
According to him, “without the Anti-Corruption Agencies, I cannot imagine how the Federal Capital Territory would have been, as people steal money from all over the country and launder or conceal them in buying properties in Abuja”.
He lamented that such property owners have refused to come forward for Deed of Assignment (s) to ascertain the original ownership.
The Minister revealed that apart from concealment, the changing of hands of these properties without official sanction also deny the FCT Administration the revenue that should have accrued from such documentations.
His Words: “Until the current owners of these several properties in Abuja come forward for official documentation such as Deeds of Assignment, the government would continue to lose revenue in that area”.
He therefore urged the EFCC to use its expertise and beam its searchlight on properties scattered across the Federal Capital Territory, especially the unoccupied ones.
Mohammed reiterated that there are several unoccupied houses in Abuja, which also constitute security challenges to the entire residents of the Territory.
The Minister thus, called for stringent law to be enacted that would regulate and force new ownership of properties in FCT to come forward to do the necessary documentations.
Promising to strengthen and solidify the existing cordial relationship between the FCT Administration and the EFCC, Mohammed stressed that since the FCT Property Tax is still before the National Assembly, efforts should be geared to marry them together.
The Minister urged the EFCC and other Anti-Graft Agencies not to spare any bad eggs in the system, as his Administration would not relent in its fight against any corrupt act.
Speaking earlier, the Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Lamorde appreciated the support being enjoyed by the Commission from the FCT Administration and particularly the Minister in the war against corruption.
The Chairman advised the FCT Administration to discourage the use of cash in any way pertaining to land acquisition in the Federal Capital Territory to enable the Commission to easily track all transactions on landed properties.
He disclosed that about 270 land fraud cases have so far been handled by the EFCC in the last three years.
The FCT Minister of State, Olajumoke Akinjide, FCT Permanent Secretary, John Chukwu and some senior officials of the FCT Administration were in attendance at the meeting, says Chief Press Secretary, Muhammad Hazat Sule
