Abuja Land Shake-Up: 485 titles nullified by Wike
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Last year, the FCTA revealed that out of 261,914 Area Council land documents submitted between 2006 and 2023, only 8,287 had been
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has cancelled 485 land titles in Abuja after they failed official verification.
The decision followed a detailed review by the Department of Land Administration and the Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS). Officials said many of the documents checked were found to be fake or did not meet the required standards.
In a public notice released by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) on Monday, the government announced that the affected applications had been removed from the regularisation database. The notice, marked Batch I, was directed at people who submitted Area Council land documents for validation.
According to the statement, the minister approved the cancellation of applications that failed official checks for authenticity and were confirmed to be fake.
The cancelled land documents cover several Area Councils and layouts. In Bwari Area Council, the affected areas include Ushafa Village Expansion Scheme, Ushafa Extension and Dawaki Extension 1.
In the Abuja Municipal Area Council, the affected districts include Kurudu-Jikwoyi Relocation, Kurudu Commercial, Karu Village Extension, Nyanya Phase IV Extension, Jikwoyi Residential, Sabon Lugbe and Lugbe I Extension.
Kuchiyako One Layout in Kuje Area Council was also listed among the affected locations.
Some organisations were also affected, including the Redeemed Christian Church of God and the Ministry of Justice Staff Multi-purpose Cooperative Society.
Under Nigerian law, all land in the FCT belongs to the Federal Government. Certificates of Occupancy and other land titles must be processed through the office of the FCT Minister and formalised by AGIS.
The cancellations are part of ongoing land reforms by the FCTA. The reforms aim to solve problems such as forged documents, double allocations and irregular land grants allegedly issued by some Area Councils.
Last year, the FCTA revealed that out of 261,914 Area Council land documents submitted between 2006 and 2023, only 8,287 had been screened. This represents just 3.2 per cent of the total submissions, leaving 253,627 documents still pending.
Officials admitted that progress has been slow, with 96.8 per cent of the documents yet to be cleared.
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