In this interview with Anule Emmanuel, Barrister Sam Kargbo, senior special assistant to the minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), speaks on the decision to increase land fees in Abuja, strategies for improved infrastructure provision and introduction of property tax in the city, among other issues.

Background
The FCTA minister came into office in December 2008 with a background in governance and law making, having presided over a state for eight years. He has also been to the Senate. With this level of experience, he is more serious about concrete achievements and less concerned about personal goals. When he assumed office, he realised that between 1992 and the time he came, there were a number of projects that had been literally abandoned and about 16 of these projects are key to the functioning of Abuja as a city. Up to the time he came in, not up to 5 per cent of the city including Maitama, Asokoro and Wuse had drinking water and if you have a modern city without such an important basic of life, I wonder what it could be referred to.

Gap
Obviously this is the kind of gap that this administration intends to fill, the projects are there but because of paucity of funds, the pace of executing them is slow. For instance, the activation of the Lower Usuma dam. This is one critical issue that he looked at. You also have other projects like connection of the sectoral sewages. When Abuja was built on a district-by- district basis, each of the districts was to have a separate sewage system, it was later in the life of the city that you had a central sewage system. It would now take another effort to connect all these districts into the central sewage system so that you have a seamless system. But because this has not been done, you have overflowing manholes and burst sewer systems all over the city and you know how awful it is. It is unfortunate that previous administrations did not make this their priority. Although this will not give the minister the expected visibility and heroism that will be attended to you starting a new project, it has to be done.

Reason for increment
It is in the light of all these that the minister took a memo to the Federal Executive Council (Fec) for the reactivation of those projects. Due to the enormity of the cost of the projects, most of which their contracts were way back but abandoned because of funding and prioritisation, the decision of Fec on the matter was that in spite of all odds, Abuja must work as a modern city. Council then considered that there was need to make an independent assessment of the projects and know what it would cost government to re-activate them and determine a possible source of funding for them. As at today, it is only the Federal Government that is funding the city, the 36 states have pulled out. So, when the Cabinet committee on the report on FCT on projects requiring variation headed by Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, minister of national planning was inaugurated in May this year, it was given specific mandate to advise government on these issues.

Terms of reference
The terms of reference for the committee were to examine the report of the FCT and prioritise on the on-going projects, recommend a plan of action that is realistic, practical and achievable including time lines and implementation phases for the execution of the projects and lastly, recommend pragmatic funding options for the projects including sourcing, generation and management of the funds.  What the committee then did was to set up its own technical committee headed by an officer from the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) with a number of technocrats and people knowledgeable in aspects of the terms of reference especially regarding funding. The cabinet committee submitted its report in July and the recommendation regarding funding was that the administration must as a matter of urgency increase premium and all charges relating to land in Abuja. The N18,000 fee per square metre for Category A, N20,000 Central Business District, N12,000 for partially serviced areas and N10,000 for un-serviced areas are the recommendations of the committee. Land for mass housing purposes are however not affected in the present review.

Comments
Some people are already saying that the increment is astronomical but remember that this is not the first time government is carrying out the review of land fees in the city. It was first increased from N35 to N500 then to N2000. What Nigerians need to know is that the minister is only implementing the recommendation of the cabinet committee which I earlier talked about. Remember too that the Federal Executive Council (Fec) had approved the recommendations of this committee and instructed the minister to implement them, so the minister has no option on the matter. The other funding options are to borrow, give concessions or private public partnership (PPP). But before you can ask people to come in and partner government, such projects at least should be capable of funding themselves. Abuja as it is today is less than 20 per cent developed and there are some people that have held their land allocations for over 10 years. Up till now, their land allocations are only worth the paper on which they are written because development has not reached those places. If government is to attract private investments in order to ensure that the provision of infrastructure is accelerated in the city, I wil want to believe that the recommendation of the committee is taken on the condition that you either do it today with less burden or tomorrow with harsher burden or you never do it at all and wait for the dire consequences.

The implication
As the administration tries to improve on the provision of adequate infrastructure in all the districts of Abuja, it wants to discourage the idea of giving private people public money. When government gives you land, it is only worth the paper. The moment government moves in with infrastructure, the value jumps, what is sold therefore is the infrastructure provided by government, you can see that government is usually on the losing end. The easiest way to be rich in Abuja is therefore to get a land where government has taken infrastructure to. The implication here is that all the money spent by government in building infrastructure in the city so far has gone into the pockets of a few who have built on the developed areas. Some people would say that the increment is against the poor, this is mere blasphemy.

Understanding
There is the need for people to understand that emphasis must not be on owning land per se, but more importantly on owning affordable homes to live in.   It is not getting paper that makes you own a piece of land, it is when you can build on that land that you become a land owner. I am sure that this new system is trying to make sure that those who have access to funds are made to contribute towards other programmes that would make the poor benefit from what government is all about. Another thing which a lot of people don’t know is that the real cost of developable land, which is land that you can build on and live in Abuja, is currently well beyond the increment. If you provide infrastructure that would accommodate one million houses today in Abuja, the cost of rent will also crash by all means. What is happening is the level of distrust that people have against government. The reality is that Abuja does not have money and so it can not function well, the city can not provide social amenities as expected, it cannot provide good health and education as well as security. The implication is that without all these, the city can not generate money for itself, there is therefore a situation of recession rather than progression. This is the kind of problem the administration is having.

Expected Revenue
The less than $1.6 billion that Abuja uses annually to pay workers and provide infrastructure, in some other economies can not be used to even pay for consultancy. This amount is not up to one tenth of what is used to clean up most cities that are often compared to Abuja with. What the FCTA intends is that all monies generated from land will now be put in dedicated accounts for specific projects. For instance, all monies realized from districts like Jahi and Katampe would go back into the provision of infrastructure in these same areas and this will extend to every segment of the territory. The FCTA has in fact borrowed a total of N20billion from the Debt Management Office (DMO) for the funding of specific projects in four new districts. Without opening these new districts, you can not save the already development ones. The administration is expected to pay back this loan in the next four years when the projects have been completed.
The Challenges of the FCTA are legion. Like any government in the 36 states of the Federation, the FCTA is responsible for Health and Education of the residents; the city’s productivity and competitiveness; information and Communication Technology; Housing, Land Management; Municipal services, environment, transport, security, infrastructure development etc. The city is undergoing a rapid growth that was not anticipated at its conception. Nobody envisaged that the FCT would serve as a haven for national fleeing from troubled spots in some parts of the country. It is therefore imperative for Nigerians to understand all these decisions being taken or implemented by the present administration are for the public good and a reasoned response to the crash realities on the ground.