Wike unveils plan to tackle land racketeers in FCT

By Philip Yatai

The Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, Minister of the FCT, has revealed plans to end land racketeering in the territory by linking the National Identification Number, NIN to the Certificate of Occupancy, C of 0 before issuance.

Wike announced this at a meeting with Estate developers in Abuja on Tuesday.

The Minister said he would seek the approval of President Bola Tinubu to link applicants’ NIN to C-of-Os before issuance.

The Minister said this would ensure that the era where three or more persons were allocated the same plot of land with fake C-of-O was over.

“Allocation of land to three or more persons will no longer be allowed because the C-of-O enables you to do business.

“When we make the right decision, some people will be happy, and some will not. The rich will kick against some of our decisions, but anything that will help our people must be done,’’ Wike said.

He promised to ensure orderliness and sanity in the land administration system and processes in the FCT.

Wike also pegged the cost of issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy (C- of-O) at N5 million.

He said payment could be made within four months of land allocation after which the C-of-O would be handed over to the applicant.

The minister expressed worries that workers’ salaries at the FCT Administration and the Federal Capital Development Authority gulped N8.9 billion monthly.

Wike said he had saved N110 billion for the FCT barely three months into office and assured that the funds would be attached to specific projects.

Wike inaugurated a task force on the issuance of Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) for housing estates and the recovery of land use contravention fees on Nov. 14.

He explained that the measure was to ensure that each unit in the housing estates had its separate C-of-O.

(NAN)