From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives has said it will sanction estate developers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for alleged violation of extant rules in the operation of their business.
The chairman, House Ad-hoc Committee investigating the operations of Real Estate Developers in FCT, Blessing Onuh, after an oversight visit to some sites, within the federal capital.
The panel during the visit had berated the developers over various infractions, including building without authorisation from the government and failing to deliver to their subscribers.
Onuh told journalists, after the oversight, that their finding was mind-boggling, as most of the developers were observed to have violated government regulations, in relation to estate development in the FCT.
‘You are all aware that this is an investigative committee and we are here on a fact-finding mission to discover what is on the ground; what the reality is. We commenced this committee in November last year. And all this while we have been calling developers to our office and also we create a platform between the developers and subscribers to have an interface to discuss.
‘So it is more a theoretical thing. So we are here to see it for ourselves, to know if the developers are in compliance.
‘What we have discovered is so mind-boggling. There are a lot of contraventions, a lot of infractions by the developers in some of the places we visited. They do not have building plan approvals,’ the lawmaker stated.
‘We would look at the infractions, analyse them and then we would send those that have infractions and contravention to the necessary authority for intervention.
‘The committee will not hesitate to recommend severe sanctions & prosecution of everyone involved in these sharp practices,’ she added.