…says, I saved N110bn in 3 months

The Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike on Tuesday raised the alarm of disturbing numbers of fake Certificate of Occupancy ( C of O) being issued by FCTA officials to unsuspecting residents.

Wike said this during a meeting with estate developers and other stakeholders in Abuja.

The Minister said that he had confirmed what he experienced as a Governor when he was issued a fake C of O by FCTA officials.

While he stated that he has saved a whopping sum of N110 billion for the administration in three months, also disclosed plans to introduce some security features into the C of Os, to wade off fraudulent merchants.

He also disclosed that his short stay as FCT Minister has revealed that there are many bad eggs in the system, that forge C of Os to defraud people.

The Minister also noted that he would seek the permission of President Bola Tinubu to add a National Identification Number (NIN) to any C of O that would be given by his administration.

According to him, residents seeking C of O, henceforth will have to pay N5 million and the payment can be spread within four months.

Wike said, ” When I was governor of Rivers State, 3 C of Os were given by FCT on my land and we later discovered that the C of Os given to us were fack after we had paid N57 million for the lands.

“I will seek the president’s permission to link any C of O to the NIN number. The rich men will kick against it but anything that will help our people must be done.

“Support this move. You will attest to the fact that there are changes. How will you feel that at the end of the day, you have a C of O but it is fake? Over 10 years some people have not paid now the 5 million looks big for them”, he added.