FCTA to build 10,000 houses for masses, says Wike, calls for stricter laws against vandals

As part of efforts to address the high cost of accommodation in Abuja and its environs, Federal Capital Territory minister, Nyesom Wike, said the FCT Administration would in its next budget begin the process of building 10, 000 houses for the masses.

Speaking on Thursday in Abuja at the ongoing Ministerial Sectoral Update to mark the first anniversary of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, Wike decried the high cost of accommodation in the territory.

According to Wike, some businessmen who got free acres of land in the past to embark on mass housing projects, instead turned around to partition the plots and sell to Nigerians at exorbitant prices.

He said, “In our next budget, we want to build a Renewed Hope City. This is for affordable houses, not for the big men

“We are going to provide infrastructure, build and allocate the houses to the poor. We have in our mind to build 10,000 houses for the poor.”

In the same vein, Wike urged the National Assembly to review the law against vandalism in the FCT, saying the meager fines provided in the extant laws cannot deter criminals from continuing with their nefarious activities.

He said, “Take for example, the issue of streetlights on Abuja streets. Today you put streetlights, tomorrow night, they are no longer there. What happened? They have vandalized them. They cut off the cables.

“You arrest them for prosecution, and what does the law say on conviction? N10,000. So, they continue with the act.

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“We have told the National Assembly that they must come to our aid by amending and reviewing the law to make it very tough so as to discourage vandals from vandalizing our infrastructures.”

The Minister stated further that, “On harassment by touts because of revenue collection and others, we have called and sat down with the Abuja Municipal Area Council AMAC and told them that the only way to allow decency in the collection of revenue, is that we have to sit with them, form a committee and have an account where the revenue comes to the FCTA, and they collect their own share.

“By doing so, you will reduce touting, harassment, and double taxation. And they have agreed. After all, the law allows them to take 10 percent of our IGR.”