By Pius Awunah
The Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), has sealed several residential and commercial buildings across the Federal Capital Territory over unpaid tenement rates and other levies.
The enforcement, which began earlier in the week, covered areas such as Garki, Wuse, and Maitama, where officials accompanied by security personnel locked up defaulting properties.
Some residents complained of inadequate notice, while others alleged that officials demanded cash payments to prevent their buildings from being sealed.
AMAC officials defended the operation as lawful and aimed at boosting internally generated revenue for development projects.
The exercise continued on Thursday,October 16,2025,in parts of Asokoro, Jabi, and Gwarinpa.
“They came without warning, just broke the locks and said we can not enter until we pay up,” said Aisha Bello, a civil servant from a two-bedroom flat in Garki, whose home was among the first hit.
Affected residents decried the tactics as “inhumane and draconian,” especially with national inflation at 34% squeezing household budgets.
“How do they expect us to pay when salaries have not risen? This is locking the poor out of shelter,” fumed tenant Emmanuel Okoro, a trader locked out in Wuse.
The enforcement revives a long-simmering dispute over tenement rates in the FCT. A 2018 Federal High Court ruling in Planned Shelter Ltd v. AMAC & Ors. declared the Area Councils’ bye-laws unconstitutional for usurping National Assembly powers under Section 1(j) of the 4th Schedule to the 1999 Constitution, prohibiting collections until enabling legislation.
AMAC officials defended the action as a “necessary measure to recover over N5 billion in outstanding levies” since 2022,saying that tenement rates, property taxes on developed and occupied buildings, are mandated by the FCT Act and AMAC’s Tenement Rate Collection Bye-Law”.
“We have issued notices for months; this is the last resort to fund essential services like waste management and road repairs”,AMAC officials said.
The officials cited recent successes, including the August sealing of Efab Metropolis Estate in Karsana over a N600 million debt, which prompted partial settlements after a brief blockade.
Property owners have been advised to reconcile their accounts and settle outstanding debts to avoid further sanctions.
