• Only Two Of 445 Mass Housing Allottees Meet Terms, Conditions
• Right Of Occupancy To Be Lost In 21 Days Without Payment
• Plots Not Developed In Two Years To Be Revoked

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, on Friday, rolled out fresh orders on management of land including land allocation and development within the territory.

The reforms, which would become operational from April 21, 2025, cover specific areas like conditions of grant of Statutory Right of Occupancy (R-of-O), contents of the Statutory Right of Occupancy Bill, contents of Letter of Acceptance/Refusal of Offer of grant of Right of Occupancy, titling of Mass Housing and Sectional Interests, as well as regularisation of Area Council land documents.

A significant aspect of the reform is that land allottees now have 21 days from the date of offer to make full payment of all bills, fees, rents and charges prescribed on offer of Statutory Rights of Occupancy and submit a duly completed Letter of Acceptance alongside evidence of payments or lose the offer.

Also, as against the lengthy period within which to develop allocated lands, the period within which to erect and complete developments on any land granted in the FCT is now two years from the date of the commencement of the R-of-O.

The minister, who disclosed the reforms at a press briefing through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications, Lere Olayinka, disclosed that “any R-of-O bills and any other payments made outside the stipulated 21 days shall be considered invalid while any land granted should be developed within two years.”

He added: “On lands previously allocated by Area Councils, the law stipulates that all lands in the FCT are urban lands. It therefore becomes necessary that all land documents issued by the Area Councils are considered for regularisation to statutory titles in line with relevant statutes.”

He lamented that in 2006, the Zonal Land, Planning and Survey offices of the six Area Councils were directed to submit all Area Council allocation lists, layouts, files and registers to Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS)/Lands Department, which they did.

He, however, stated that to date, out of the 261,914 Area Council land documents submitted for regularisation, only 8,287 have been vetted, out of which only 2,358 were cleared, validated and regularised to statutory titles.

“The 8,287 were vetted from 2006 to 2023 (17 years), and this represents just 3.2 per cent of the total land documents submitted for vetting and regularisation. As of today, the FCT Administration is still left with 253,627 submissions in its database,” he said.

The minister further disclosed that “Area Council land documents successfully vetted and confirmed would have statutory titles on such lands issued and the allottees will have 60 days to make full payments of all bills, fees, rents and charges prescribed failure of which the offers shall become invalid.”

Wike expressed shock that “from the inception of the Mass Housing programme in 2000 till date, out of the 445 Mass Housing allocations granted, only two developers have successfully met the terms and conditions.”

The Mass Housing Programme was initiated in 2000 to utilise the Public Private Partnership (PPP) strategy with the objective of providing affordable housing for residents of the FCT.

According to him, a new operational framework for titling of Mass Housing and Sectional Interests has been developed to fast-track the exercise efficiently, effectively and diligently, in line with the vision to restore confidence in the administration of lands in the FCT.

“Currently, the holders/occupiers of properties within the various Mass Housing Estates in the FCT do not pay bills, rents, fees and charges to the government despite having held and occupied the properties for decades,” he explained.

The minister said that in recognition of the urgent need to issue titles to the beneficiaries of Mass Housing and Sectional Interests, all applications for titling are to be made by the Subscribers/Developers to the Department of Land Administration for processing.

“Processing of titles for Mass Housing and Sectional Interests shall commence on April 21, 2025, in line with the new operational framework,” he said.

[Guardian]