By Philip Yatai
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, says that big men (i.e., wealthy individuals) residing in Abuja remain the FCT’s most significant problem in terms of voluntary tax compliance for development.
Wike stated this during the inauguration of the newly constructed Collector Road CN2 (Zakari A. Kyari Street) in Abuja on Thursday, as part of President Bola Tinubu’s celebration of his second year in office.
The road from Arterial Road N11 (Ahmadu Bello Way) in Mabushi to Katampe District, which leads to the Judges’ Quarters and other connecting roads, was constructed by the Federal Capital Territory Administration.
The minister stated that the affluent individuals residing in the FCT are reluctant to pay taxes.
He, however, expressed dismay that the same big men pay their taxes and ground rent voluntarily in London, the United States of America and other foreign countries.
He said that the CN2 road and other connecting roads in Katampe District were executed with taxes and ground rents paid by responsible residents.
“For those who said we sealed their houses for not paying a ground rent, see the value; see the product of paying a ground rent. If you don’t pay, nobody will provide this infrastructure because the city’s only means of revenue is collecting taxes. People say Abuja is rich. How rich is it?” he asked.
He explained that Abuja collects one per cent of what is due to the Federal Government every month from the Federation Account.
“So, assuming that the federal government gets N800 billion every month. One per cent of N800bn is N8bn, and N8bn is not enough to pay salaries. Our salary today is not less than N13bn because of the minimum wage increase.
“So, if we only depend on one per cent of what the federal government gets every month, it means that we can only pay salaries, not to talk about carrying out infrastructure.
“That’s why we’re very aggressive in saying you cannot enjoy infrastructure free of charge. You have to pay. It has nothing to do with ‘I belong to party A; I belong to party B, I belong to party C’,” he said.
He urged Tinubu, who was represented by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Benjamin Kalu, to talk to FCT residents about the need to pay their taxes.
This, he said, would enable the FCT Administration to deliver more infrastructure in the territory for the good of all.
He reminded FCT residents, including those with large properties, that anyone with land in the territory who has not paid ground rent should do so, or their names would be published as defaulters in the newspapers.
He particularly pointed out that no poor person has the financial resources to build a house in Katampe and Mabushi, adding that those building houses in the areas were wealthy individuals.
“Mr Deputy Speaker, see what we are talking about. If you know you have landed here and have not paid, I will publish your name to indicate that you have not made the payment. It has nothing to do with wanting to embarrass you, no. We need money to do the work that we are doing.
“No poor man can do these houses. No, poor man. Rich men are building these houses. Therefore, you must pay so we can carry out the job of delivering critical infrastructure.
“We need people to pay their taxes so that we will carry out development in the interest of our people,” he added.
Earlier, Mr Richard Dauda, Acting Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority, stated that the project was executed by CGC and was flagged off in October 2024.
Dauda said that the CN2 road was a dual carriageway with two lanes in each direction, while the other roads were single carriageways.
He added that road projects were executed to provide infrastructure and open up the Katampe District for development.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that shortly after the inauguration, Wike inspected the Judges’ Quarters under construction in Katampe and the N5 Road (Obafemi Awolowo Way) from Life Camp to Ring Road III, scheduled for inauguration on Friday.
