The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, has signed 26,272 Certificates of Occupancy (C-of-Os) in three years, surpassing the combined 8,697 C-of-Os produced and signed during the 13 years from 2010 to 2023.
This is as the FCT administration moves to reduce the waiting period for land allottees to two weeks.
The figure, achieved under President Bola Tinubu’s administration, represents more than three times the number of C-of-O’s produced and signed during the administrations of former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari combined, according to figures released by the FCT Administration.
During the five-and-a-half-year administration of President Jonathan, 5,500 Certificates of Occupancy were produced and signed, while 3,197 were produced and signed during Buhari’s eight-year administration, bringing the combined total for the two administrations to 8,697.
Many of the allottees who are beneficiaries of the 26,272 Certificates of Occupancy produced and signed by the FCT administration under Wike got their allocations more than 10 years ago, highlighting the backlog of land documentation inherited by the current administration.
This was contained in a statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, on Sunday.
The development is expected to further ease access to property documentation and improve the ability of landowners and businesses to use their properties as collateral for commercial loans, mortgages and business expansion capital, while the FCT Administration has also streamlined the process to enable land allottees to receive their C-of-Os within two weeks of completing the required payments.
“The moment necessary payments are made, land allottees can now get their C-of-O within two weeks.
“Also, an automated notification has been introduced to ensure that land allottees are informed when their documents are ready for collection,” Olayinka said.
He attributed the delays under previous administrations to inefficiencies that discouraged landowners from completing payments.
Apart from producing and signing 26,272 Certificates of Occupancy, a total of 2,521 Consents to Assign were granted, while 177 Consents to Mortgage were granted in the last three years of President Tinubu’s administration by the FCT Administration under Nyesom Wike.
This is against 753 Consents to assign and 180 Consents to Mortgage granted by the administration of President Jonathan, as well as 684 Consents to assign and 164 Consents to Mortgage granted during the eight-year government of President Buhari.
A consent to assign is a legal document required when selling a property or shifting loan agreements, while consent to mortgage is an official approval required before a property can be used as collateral for a loan.
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