By John Umeh
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has ordered the revocation of 485 land approvals in Abuja after a government audit determined that the documents failed mandatory verification procedures.
Audit Exposes Irregularities
The cancellations followed a detailed screening exercise carried out by the FCT Department of Land Administration in partnership with the Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS). Officials disclosed that numerous submissions contained inconsistencies, while several were outright forgeries.
In a formal announcement issued by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), authorities stated that the affected applications—classified as Batch I—have been expunged from the ongoing land regularisation records.
The directive primarily concerns applicants who had submitted Area Council-issued land papers for validation and conversion into recognised FCT titles.
Areas Affected
The invalidated documents cut across multiple districts and councils within the capital territory.
In Bwari Area Council, locations such as Ushafa Village Expansion Scheme, Ushafa Extension and Dawaki Extension 1 were listed among the impacted layouts.
Within the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), 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 also appeared on the list.
Among institutions reportedly affected are the Redeemed Christian Church of God and the Ministry of Justice Staff Multi-purpose Cooperative Society, alongside other private applicants.
Legal Framework and Reforms
Under Nigerian law, all land in the FCT is vested in the Federal Government. Valid titles, including Certificates of Occupancy, must be processed through the FCT Minister’s office and formalised by AGIS to be legally recognised.
The revocations form part of broader land reforms initiated by the FCTA to address persistent issues such as document forgery, duplicate allocations and irregular grants allegedly issued by some Area Councils over the years.
Screening Backlog
The ongoing regularisation programme has revealed the scale of administrative challenges facing the system. According to earlier disclosures by the FCTA, only 8,287 out of 261,914 land documents submitted between 2006 and 2023 had been screened as of last year.
That figure represents just 3.2 per cent of total submissions, leaving over 253,000 documents awaiting verification.
Officials acknowledged that the backlog underscores longstanding inefficiencies in land administration and said the current reforms are aimed at restoring transparency and credibility to Abuja’s land registry system.
The latest cancellations signal a tougher stance by the FCT authorities as they continue efforts to sanitise land ownership records in the nation’s capital.
