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Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, has approved sweeping reforms to land administration in Abuja, set to take effect from April 21.
This was disclosed by Chijioke Nwankwoeze, Director of the FCT Land Administration Department, during a news briefing in Abuja.
According to Nwankwoeze, under the new framework, land allottees in the FCT are now required to develop their plots within two years of receiving the Right of Occupancy (R-of-O).
He explained, “The period within which to erect and complete developments on any land granted in the FCT is now two years from the date of the commencement of the R-of-O.”
Additionally, the reforms stipulate a stricter timeline for accepting land offers: “Land allottees now have 21 days from the date of offer to make full payment of all bills, fees, rents and charges prescribed on offers of Statutory Rights of Occupancy and submit a duly completed letter of acceptance alongside evidence of payments, or lose the offer.”
On previously allocated lands by Area Councils, the director emphasised that all lands in the FCT are considered urban, and therefore all land documents issued by the Area Councils must be regularised to statutory titles.
He said, “It should be noted that in 2006, the Zonal Land, Planning and Survey offices of the six Area Councils were directed to submit all Area Council allocation lists, layouts, files and registers to Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS)/Lands Department, and this was done by the Area Councils.”
However, progress has been slow. “To date, out of the 261,914 Area Council land documents submitted for regularisation, only 8,287 have been vetted, out of which only 2,358 were cleared, validated and regularised to statutory titles. The 8,287 were vetted from 2006 to 2023 (17 years), and this represents just 3.2% of the total land documents submitted. As at today, the FCT Administration is still left with 253,627 submissions in its database.”
Nwankwoeze added that “Area Council land documents successfully vetted and confirmed would have statutory titles on such lands issued and the allottees will have 60 days to make full payments of all bills, fees, rents and charges prescribed, failure of which the offers shall become invalid.”
Regarding Mass Housing, the minister has also directed the issuance of titles to beneficiaries, including for Sectional Interests. The director stated that all applications for titling must be submitted to the Department of Land Administration, with the new process kicking off on April 21, 2025.
