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Senate passes for second reading, bill barring payment of annual rent in Abuja
By Ibrahim Adebayo
A bill seeking to regulate rent payments in the Federal Capital Territory was on Tuesday passed for second reading by the Nigerian Senate.
The bill is sponsored by Senator Smart Adeyemi (APC, Kogi).
Among other things, it seeks to reduce advance payment for new tenants to three months and thereafter, proceed with the monthly payment scheme.
It also wants low-income earners protected from any form of oppression by homeowners as well as to provide a safety net for landlords against erring tenants.
Justifying the bill, Senator Adeyemi said the bill was to cushion the effect of outrageous rents on properties on residents in the FCT.
He said: “Some of the landlords have even started threatening me to do one or two things against me if I proceed with the bill and I just laughed.
“When you take up this type of job, it is between you and your God. We shouldn’t be afraid of what anybody could do to us.”
Adding his voice to the argument, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi (APC, Niger) described the legislative document as a people-centred bill and called on his colleagues to support its passage.
The bill was supported by senators Ibrahim Gobir (Sokoto) and Bala Ibn Na’Allah (APC, Kebbi). Afterwards, other lawmakers approved it, except for Senator Chimaroke Nnamani (PDP, Enugu), who opposed the bill, arguing that rents are determined by market forces like cost of acquiring land and building materials.
