Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory
(FCT), has announced sweeping reforms aimed at improving land administration in
the city.
The changes, set to take effect from April 21, 2025, include
a strict 21-day deadline for land allottees to make full payments for right of
occupancy (R-of-O) bills and associated charges. Failure to meet the deadline
will result in the cancellation of the land offer.
The reforms, disclosed in a joint statement by Chijioke
Nwankwoeze, director of FCTA land administration, and Lere Olayinka, senior
special assistant to the minister on public communications and social media,
are designed to address long-standing issues with delayed payments, revenue
collection, and land speculation.
Under the previous system, there was no set deadline for
payment, causing delays in revenue collection and hindering infrastructural
development.
The new policy stipulates that land allottees now have 21
days from the date of receiving an offer to pay all bills, fees, and charges,
and submit a completed letter of acceptance alongside proof of payment.
Additionally, the reforms introduce a two-year limit within
which all land granted in the FCT must be developed.
“This has caused delay in revenue receivable due to
non-collection of Right of Occupancy (R-of-O) and non-payment of bills, slower
pace of infrastructural development, sustained land speculation and racketeering
while huge expenses have been incurred by the FCT Administration through
repeated s and publications notifying the public on the need for collection of
R-of-O and timely payment of bills and charges,” the statement reads.
“Consequently, as against the unspecified period within
which to collect the Right of Occupancy (R-of-O) and make full payment of the
Statutory Right of Occupancy bills and charges, land allottees now have 21 days
from the date of offer, to make full payment of all bills, fees, rents and
charges prescribed on offers of Statutory Rights of Occupancy and submit a duly
completed Letter of acceptance alongside evidence of payments, or lose the
offer.
”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.
“Therefore, 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.
“On lands previously allocated by Area Councils, the law
stipulates that all lands in the FCT are urban land. 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.”
In a bid to streamline land titles, the FCTA will also begin
regularising land documents issued by area councils.
Of the 261,914 area council land documents submitted since
2006 for regularisation, only 8,287 have been vetted, out of which only 2,358
were cleared, validated and regularised to statutory titles.
Landholders with successfully vetted documents will have 60
days to pay all relevant fees or risk losing their offers.
The FCTA also plans to tackle longstanding issues with mass
housing estates, where occupiers “have not paid bills or charges for decades”.
“Currently, the holders/occupiers of properties within the
various Mass Housing Estates in the FCT do not pay and bills, rents, fees and
charges to the government despite having held and occupied the properties for
decades,” the statement added.
“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.”
The FCTA noted that a new operational framework for issuing
titles to mass housing and sectional interests will be implemented starting
from April 21, 2025.
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