Abuja: The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, says big men (rich people) residing in Abuja remain FCT’s biggest problem in voluntary tax compliance for development.
Wike stated this during President Bola Tinubu’s inauguration of the newly constructed Collector Road CN2 (Zakari A. Kyari Street) in Abuja on Thursday to celebrate his second year in office.
The FCT Administration constructed the road from Arterial Road N11 (Ahmadu Bello Way) in Mabushi to Judges Quarters in Katampe District and other roads.
The minister said that the big men living in the FCT do not like paying taxes.
However, he expressed dismay that the same big men voluntarily pay their taxes and ground rent 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 only thing the city has is just to collect taxes.
“People say Abuja is rich. How rich is it?” he asked.
He explained that what Abuja collects from the Federation Account is one per cent of what is due to the Federal Government every month.
“So, assuming that the federal government gets N800 billion every month. One per cent of N800 billion is N8 billion Naira, and N8 billion is insufficient to pay salaries.
“Our salary today is not less than N13 billion because of the minimum wage increase.
“So, if we only depend on one per cent of what the federal government gets every month, we can only pay salaries, not discuss 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, 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.
He said this would enable the FCT Administration to deliver more infrastructure in the territory for the good of all.
He reminded FCT residents, particularly big men, that whoever has land in the territory and has not paid ground rent should pay, or their names would be published in newspapers as defaulters.
He pointed out that no poor man had the financial resources to build a house in Katampe and Mabushi, adding that those building houses in the areas were rich.
“Mr Deputy Speaker, see what we are talking about. If you know you have land here and you have not paid, I will publish your name that you have not paid.
“It has nothing to do that I want 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. So, you have to 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, said that CGC executed the project, which was flagged off in October 2024.
Dauda said that the CN2 road was a dual carriageway with two lanes each, while the other roads were single carriageways.
He added that the government executes road projects to provide infrastructure and open the Katampe District for development.
