THE Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) Department of Outdoor Advertisement and Signage (DOAS) has said 3,050 illegal masts and towers have been uncovered in Abuja since the inception of the unit.
The Director, Babagana Adam who disclosed this while addressing journalists in Abuja on Thursday, December 8, explained that only 320 masts and towers were certified in Abuja.
According to him, the administration lost about N500 million revenue to masts erected without approval in the territory.
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He explained that some companies only paid for permit and refused to pay the processing fee of N1.5 million before going ahead to erect their masts and towers, a development which he described as an illegal arrangement.
“We have lost about N500 million revenue to illegal masts and towers in the territory,” Adamu said.
“The permit for erecting a mast is N20,000, the processing fee is N1.5 million. But many don’t pay, they only pay for the permit and go ahead erecting their masts and towers.
“We discovered this when some communities laid the complaint to the National Assembly that the noise from the towers was affecting them and need to be addressed.”
According to him, most of the mobile subscribers only applied without paying the requisite dues.
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.