The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) screened only 8,287 out of the 261,914 area council land documents submitted for regularisation between 2006 and 2023.

Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media to the FCT Minister, Mr Lere Olayinka, disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja on Friday.

Olayinka said that the 8,287 vetted land documents represented only 3.2 per cent of the 261,914 documents submitted for vetting and regularisation.

According to him, the FCT Administration was still left with 253,627 submissions in its database.

He explained that the measure was part of the broad and comprehensive reforms on land administration in the FCT approved by the FCT Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike.

He said that the reforms, which would become operational from April 21, covers specific areas like conditions of grant of statutory Right of Occupancy (R of O), and contents of the statutory R of O bill.

Others, he said, would include contents of Letter of Acceptance/Refusal of offer of grant of R of O, titling of mass housing and sectional interests, as well as regularisation of area council land documents.

He explained that the crux of the sweeping reforms in the FCT land administration would ensure the regularisation of land allocations in area councils and title of mass housing properties in favour of buyers.

He added that land allottees were also expected to develop allocated lands within two years.

The spokesman explained that in 2006, the Zonal Land, Planning and Survey Offices of the six area councils were directed to submit all area council’s allocation lists.

He added that the lists, which were submitted to the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) and Lands Department, included layouts, files and registers.

Olayinka, however, said that to date, out of the 8,287 vetted documents, only 2,358 lands were cleared, validated and regularised to statutory titles.

He said that area council land documents successfully vetted and confirmed, would be given statutory titles on such lands.

He added that the allottees would have sixty days to make full payments of all bills, fees, rents and charges prescribed, failure of which the offers shall become invalid.

The spokesman explained that the action was in line with the provision of the law, which stipulated that all lands in the FCT were urban land.

“It, therefore, becomes necessary that all land documents issued by the area councils are considered for regularisation to statutory titles in line with relevant statutes,” he said.

The Director of Land Administration, FCTA Chijioke Nwankwoeze, said that the decision to regularise lands issued by area councils was to give the land reform a human face.

Nwankwoeze noted that not much progress had been achieved from 2006 to date, considering the 253,627 land documents, representing 96.8 per cent awaiting clearance.

He, however, expressed optimism that the documents would be cleared in two years following the framework approved by Wike.

“I am confident that the holders of area councils’ lands will begin to smile because they will now have statutory R of O and Certificate of Occupancy upon full payments of requisite bills,” he said. (NAN)