By Joy Yesufu
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has approved the cancellation of 485 land documents in Abuja after they failed to meet official verification standards.
The affected titles were nullified following a comprehensive review by the Department of Land Administration in collaboration with the Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS). Authorities said many of the documents did not pass authenticity checks and were confirmed to be forged.
In a public notice issued on Monday and marked Batch I, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) announced that the invalid applications had been removed from the regularisation database.
The directive specifically concerns applicants who submitted Area Council-issued land documents for validation.
“This is to inform the general public, particularly applicants who submitted Area Council land documents for regularisation, that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory has approved the nullification of applications that failed the necessary official checks for genuineness and have been confirmed to be fake,” the notice stated.
The cancelled titles span multiple Area Councils and layouts.
In Bwari Area Council, affected locations include Ushafa Village Expansion Scheme, Ushafa Extension and Dawaki Extension I.
Within the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), impacted 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 those affected are corporate and institutional entities, including the Redeemed Christian Church of God and the Ministry of Justice Staff Multi-purpose Cooperative Society.
Under Nigerian law, all land within the FCT is vested in 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 latest action forms part of ongoing land administration reforms by the FCTA aimed at addressing long-standing irregularities, including forged documents, double allocations and questionable grants allegedly issued by some Area Councils.
The reform drive gained momentum last year when the FCTA revealed that only 8,287 out of 261,914 Area Council land documents submitted between 2006 and 2023 had been screened — representing just 3.2 per cent of total submissions. The remaining 253,627 documents were still pending clearance at the time.
Officials acknowledged that progress had been slow over the years, with nearly 97 per cent of submissions awaiting verification.
The cancellations signal a renewed push by the administration to sanitise Abuja’s land registry and restore integrity to the territory’s land allocation system.
