Posted by By Ihuoma Chiedozie, Abuja on
The Federal Executive Council, on Wednesday, issued a two-week ultimatum to about 2,600 civil servants and political office holders who are yet to pay the initial 10 per cent deposit for the purchase of their residential quarters to pay or forfeit the offer.
The Federal Executive Council, on Wednesday, issued a two-week ultimatum to about 2,600 civil servants and political office holders who are yet to pay the initial 10 per cent deposit for the purchase of their residential quarters to pay or forfeit the offer.
Preferred bidders who fail to complete their payments within this period will also lose their offers and forfeit their initial payment.
The council approved the ultimatum following a progress report on the sale of the Federal Government houses in Abuja, which was presented by the Federal Capital Territory Administration.
Houses whose owners are unable to pay for at the expiration of the two-week grace period will be returned to the pool for a final round of auctions. This is to enable the Federal Government realise the full implementation of the monetisation policy.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr. Frank Nweke Jnr., told State House correspondents that 22,586 offer letters had been issued since the commencement of the sales.
According to him, this figure represents 79.2 per cent of the total number of Federal Government houses in the Federal Capital Territory database.
Out of this figure, 19,610 offers were issued to career civil servants, 696 to public and political office holders, while 2,280 offers were given to winning bidders, including companies and private citizens.
However, only 14, 374 civil servants have been able to fulfill the payment of the initial 10 per cent deposit for the houses, which ultimately qualifies them to assess the mortgage facilities that will enable them to pay for the properties.
Nweke added that 1,770 civil servants had paid 20 per cent of the cost of their houses.
The minister also disclosed that N28bn had been collected as revenue since the sales began.
Out of this amount, N2.3bn was refunded to reserve bidders and some preferred bidders whose offers were nullified for unspecified reasons.
Also, N7.71bn was transferred to the Central Bank of Nigeria in March 2006 as the Federal Government‘s shares from the proceeds, while the remaining N14.35bn would be shared between the Federal Government and the FCT.