Connect with us

Business

FCTA Open to Partnership With Genuine Real Estate Developers —Wike

Published

on

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Barrister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike has said that the FCT Administration is open to partnering with genuine real estate developers in the nation’s capital.

The Minister said this when he received a delegation from Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), FCT Chapter, led by the Chairman, Dr. Okoruwa Anthony Ehikioya on a courtesy visit to the FCT Administration on Thursday, May 9th, 2024.

Barrister Wike who highlighted the importance of collaboration in real estate development in order to reduce the housing shortfall in the country, commended the association for showing interest in partnering with the government.

He however stressed that the FCTA will only go into partnerships that will be mutually beneficial, adding that the Administration has also introduced measures to ensure that only genuine developers are encouraged to participate in real estate development in the FCT.

As part of these measures, the Minister said a financial institution, forthwith must undertake that a real estate developer has the financial capacity to carry out any stated project, while the developer must also commit to completing the project within a specified time frame or forfeit the land titles without conditions.

The Minister said, “What we have done now, yes, you want to develop land, yes you have to show the financial capacity, a bank will undertake that you have the financial wherewithal for such development.

“Secondly, you will undertake that this project must be started and finished within a given timeframe, without any condition attached to that title.

“Three, that failure to develop this, the government is entitled to take back their land no matter what form of development you have put in there. Government is entitled to take their land bank.

ALSO READ:  Again, CBN postpones MPC meeting

He further stressed that government will not allocate land to anybody or organisation that is only interested in selling allocated land.

He said, “Government can on its own decide to sell land. So, why would government give out land for the purposes of housing estate and then you are selling the land to people. We could as well have sold the land ourselves if that is the case”.

Barrister Wike also decried that many real estate developers in the FCT were not fulfilling their obligations as regards the payment of taxes relating to ground rents and sale of properties, among others, reiterating that the government requires such revenue to carry out development activities.

To checkmate this, the Minister said, that the FCT Administration as a policy will only sign letters of consent when it is determined that all the fees accruable to the government have been paid in full as provided by law.

Barrister Wike also expressed worries about the issues of land grabbing in the FCT and assured that the FCT Administration will continue to do its best to address the situation.

Speaking earlier, the Chairman, of Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), FCT Chapter Okoruwa Anthony Ehikioya, said the EXCO as agents of development in the FCT were on the visit to thank the Minister over his development efforts in the FCT and express their desire for partnership in real estate development with the government.

The Chairman, while also lamenting the various issues of land grabbing and land racketeering that have bedeviled the real estate sector, said such actions have cast them in a bad light and put their members in a very difficult situation. He revealed that the association has chosen to come and proffer solutions to some of the existing problems.

ALSO READ:  FCCPC boss calls for enabling environment for digital talents to thrive

Ehikioya further expressed the desire to collaborate with the FCT Administration in order to provide comfortable and affordable housing in the FCT saying “We are looking at within the period of this period of our administration, producing about 15000 units of houses for the FCT and in doing this, we are looking at a partnership with the government”.

Also present at the event were the Chief of Staff to the Minister Hon. Chidi Amadi, FCTA Head of Service, Dr Samuel Atang, Executive Secretary, FCDA, Engr Shehu Hadi Ahmed, and other senior officials of the FCTA and REDAN.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Business

Nigeria’s GDP improves by 3.84% in Q4 2024 – NBS

Published

on

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), says Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rate in real terms grew by 3.84 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2024 on a year-on-year basis.

The Statistician-General(S-G) of the Federation, Adeyemi Adeniran disclosed this in a statement on Nigeria’s GDP Report for Q4 2024 released in Abuja on Tuesday.

Adeniran said the growth rate was 0.38 per cent points higher than the 3.46 per cent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023.

“Similarly, it was higher by 0.38 per cent basic points relative to a similar growth rate of 3.46 per cent recorded in the third quarter of 2024.

“This reflected a higher economic improvement when compared to Q3 2024.”

The S-G said the performance of the GDP in Q4 2024 was still driven mainly by the services sector, which recorded a growth of 5.37 per cent and contributed 57.38 per cent to the aggregate GDP.

Adeniran said on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the real GDP grew by 10.99 per cent in Q4 2024, which indicated a higher production level than in Q3 2024.

He said the estimated economic activity in real terms for Q4 2024 stood at N22,610,393.45 million.

Adeniran said this was higher than the rates recorded in Q3 2024 and Q4 2023 which stood at N20,115,766.93 million and N21,773,263.25 million, respectively.

He said this also highlighted the improvement in the economy in Q4 2024 compared to Q3 2024 and Q4 2023.

The S-G said overall, the year 2024 ended with an overall annual GDP growth rate of 3.40 per cent relative to 2.47 per cent recorded in 2023.

ALSO READ:  FCCPC boss calls for enabling environment for digital talents to thrive

“Thus, there was a decline in the performance of the Agriculture and Industry sector in 2024 relative to 2023, while the performance of the Services sector improved in 2024,” he said.

Adeniran said in nominal terms, which refers to the current price, aggregate GDP stood at N78,374,120.95 million in Q4 2024, which indicated a year-on-year nominal growth rate of 18.91 per cent.

He said this was higher than the N65,908,258.59 million recorded in Q4 2023 and the N71,131,091.07 million in Q3 2024.

Adeniran said the major contributing economic activities in real terms in Q4 2024 were Crop Production at 23.42 per cent, Trade at 15.11 per cent, and Telecommunication at 14.40 per cent.

Real Estate at 5.88 per cent, Financial Institutions at 5.76 per cent, and Crude Petroleum at 4.60 per cent.

On a broad classification of the economic activities into Agriculture, Industry, and Services sectors based on growth, he said the Agricultural Sector grew by 1.76 per cent and the Industry grew by 2.00 per cent.

The S-G said this showed a decline compared to the rate recorded in Q4 2023 at 2.10 per cent for the Agricultural sector and 3.86 per cent for the industry sector.

On the other hand, he said the Services sector recorded a 5.37 per cent increase in growth rate compared to the 3.98 per cent recorded in Q4 2023.

Giving a breakdown of sectoral contributions to the GDP in Q4 2024, Adeniran said Agriculture contributed 25.59 per cent, Industry 17.03 per cent, and Services 57.38 per cent.

He said the Agriculture and Industry sector’s contribution was less than their contributions in Q4 of 2023 by 0.53 per cent and 0.31 basis points.

ALSO READ:  Again, CBN postpones MPC meeting

Adeniran said the Services sector had the highest contribution to the GDP in Q4 2024, surpassing their contribution in Q4 2023 by 0.83 per cent basis points.

He said the annual contributions of the economic sector showed that Agriculture contributed 24.64 per cent in 2024, which was lower compared to its contributions of 25.18 per cent recorded in 2023.

Similarly, the Industry sector’s annual contribution was 18.47 per cent in Q4 2024, which was also lower than the 18.65 per cent recorded in 2023.

However, he said the services sector contributions for 2024 were 56.89 per cent which exceeded the 56.18 per cent recorded in 2023.

The S-G said the Oil sector witnessed a growth rate of 1.48 per cent in Q4 2024.

He said this indicated a decline compared to the 12.11 per cent recorded in Q4 2023, and the 5.17 per cent in Q3 2024.

Adeniran said the Oil sector accounted for 4.60 per cent of the GDP in Q4 2024.

He said the annual oil GDP for 2024 grew by 5.54 per cent, which was 7.75 per cent higher than the annual GDP recorded for 2023 at -2.22 per cent.

Adeniran said the annual contribution of oil stood at 5.51 per cent in 2024 which was higher than its contribution in Q4 2023 at 5.40 per cent.

He said Q4 2024 recorded an average daily oil production of 1.54 million barrels per day (mbpd), which was lower than the daily average production of 1.56 mbpd recorded in Q4 2023 by 0.03 mbpd.

ALSO READ:  Kaduna Electric MD Leaves As Tenure Expires

“On the contrary, the production volume for Q4 2024 was higher than Q3 2024 which recorded 1.47 mbpd by 0.06 mbpd.”

He said the non-oil sector contributed 95.40 per cent to the GDP in Q4 2024 in real terms.

“This shows an increase on a year-on-year basis when compared to Q4 2023 which recorded a contribution of 95.30 per cent.

“Similarly, the non-oil sector’s contribution in Q4 2024 exceeds the 94.43 per cent recorded in Q3 2024.”

Adeniran said the economic performance of the non-oil sector in Q4 2024 was attributed to the growth recorded in some economic activities, including Rail Transport & Pipelines, Metal Ores, Financial Institutions, Road Transport, Quarrying & Other Minerals, and Insurance.

He said on an annual basis, the non-oil grew by 3.27 per cent in 2024, which was higher than the 3.04 per cent recorded in 2023.

“While in terms of aggregate contributions, the non-oil sector contributed 94.49 per cent in 2024, which was lower than the 94.60 per cent recorded in 2023,” he said. (NAN)

Continue Reading

Business

Equity Market drops N231bn amid Sell-offs

Published

on

The equity market began the week in the red on Monday, losing N231 billion due to profit-taking by investors.

Sell-offs in Tier-one banking stocks like Access Corporation, Zenith Bank, FBN Holdings, and Fidelity Bank, as well as Oando Plc and Berger Paints, caused the decline.

The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) market capitalisation fell by N231 billion, or 0.34 per cent, from N67.614 trillion at the open to N67.383 trillion at the close.

The All-Share Index dropped 0.34 per cent, or 370.43 points, ending at 108,126.97, down from 108,497.40 on Friday.

In spite of the decline, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return increased by 5.05 per cent.

Market breadth was negative, with 37 losers and 17 gainers.

Northern Nigeria Flour Mills (NNFM) led the losers, falling 9.99 per cent to close at N72.55 per share. Ikeja Hotel led gainers, rising 10 per cent to N12.10.

In spite of the downturn, trading activity remained strong, with a 10.16 per cent increase in value.

A total of 357.76 million shares worth N9.21 billion were traded across 15,914 transactions.

Jaiz Bank led in volume with 48.19 million shares, while Zenith Bank recorded the highest trade value, at N1.37 billion. (NAN)

ALSO READ:  Fuel Subsidy: Tinubu Will Make Nigerians Smile Again-Amb Coomassie
Continue Reading

Business

Naira gains as CBN sustains FX reforms

Published

on

Naira appreciated further at the official market on Monday, trading at N1,497.11 against the Dollar.

Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) website showed that the Naira gained N3.62.

This marks a 0.24 per cent increase compared to Friday, Feb. 21, when the local currency closed at N1,500.73 to the Dollar.

The Naira has remained relatively stable against the US Dollar since December 2024, following CBN’s sustained reforms aimed at ensuring transparency in the Foreign Exchange (FX) market.

Analysts have continued to commend the CBN’s sweeping reforms to support the local currency.

Bismarck Rewane, financial expert and CEO of Financial Derivatives Company Ltd., also praised CBN’s efforts in media appearances on Friday and Monday.

He stated that the apex bank spent $8 billion to defend the Naira, insisting the interventions were necessary and aligned with the bank’s mandate. (NAN)

ALSO READ:  CNG condemns lingering power outage in North
Continue Reading