Wike clears FCT land documentation backlog, issues 26,272 C-of-Os

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) says nearly three times as many Certificates of Occupancy (C-of-O) have been issued to land allottees in the territory under President Bola Tinubu’s administration as were issued during the combined 13 years of the Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari administrations.

Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.

According to Olayinka, 26,272 Certificates of Occupancy have been produced and signed by FCT Minister Nyesom Wike since Tinubu assumed office, compared with 8,697 issued between 2010 and 2023 under Jonathan and Buhari.

He said Jonathan’s five-and-a-half years in office accounted for 5,500 C-of-Os, while Buhari’s eight years produced 3,197.

Olayinka, however, said a significant proportion of the certificates signed under the current administration were part of a backlog inherited from previous administrations.

He explained that many beneficiaries had held land allocations for more than a decade without receiving the necessary documentation.

According to him, inefficiencies in the previous system discouraged land allottees from completing payments because there was no assurance that their Certificates of Occupancy would be processed promptly.

He said the FCTA had introduced measures to address the problem, including a faster processing system.

“The moment necessary payments are made, land allottees can now get their C-of-O within two weeks,” Olayinka said.

He added that an automated notification system had also been introduced to alert allottees when their documents were ready for collection, eliminating the need for applicants to rely on informal channels to track their applications.

Olayinka said the importance of the development extended beyond land documentation, noting that Certificates of Occupancy are widely recognised by banks and financial institutions as collateral for loans.

He said the absence of such documents had previously prevented many landowners and small and medium-sized businesses in the FCT from accessing credit, mortgages and expansion capital.

The FCTA also reported an increase in other land-related transactions under the Tinubu administration.

According to the statement, 2,521 Consents to Assign were granted in the three years under review, compared with 753 under Jonathan and 684 under Buhari.

The administration also granted 177 Consents to Mortgage, compared with 180 under Jonathan and 164 under Buhari.