The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has nullified 485 land documents in Abuja after they failed to scale through the government’s verification process.
The revocation followed an internal audit conducted by the Department of Land Administration in partnership with the Abuja Geographic Information Systems, which reportedly uncovered widespread irregularities.
Officials said a number of the documents did not pass authenticity tests, while several were outrightly identified as forged.
In a notice released on Monday by the Federal Capital Territory Administration and labelled Batch I, the administration announced the removal of the affected applications from its regularisation records.
The statement was directed at individuals and organisations that had submitted Area Council land documents for validation.
According to the notice, the minister approved the cancellation of all applications that failed official scrutiny and were adjudged not genuine.
The affected titles are spread across various Area Councils and districts in the FCT.
In Bwari Area Council, the impacted layouts include Ushafa Village Expansion Scheme, Ushafa Extension and Dawaki Extension 1.
Within the Abuja Municipal Area Council, the cancellations cover 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 the affected locations.
Some corporate and institutional bodies were among those impacted, including the Redeemed Christian Church of God and the Ministry of Justice Staff Multi-purpose Cooperative Society.
By law, all land within the FCT is vested in the Federal Government, and land titles such as Certificates of Occupancy must be processed through the FCT Minister’s office and formalised by AGIS.
The latest action is part of ongoing reforms in land administration introduced by the FCTA to address longstanding issues such as fake documents, multiple allocations and questionable grants allegedly issued by certain Area Councils.
The revocations also form part of a wider regularisation programme that has been ongoing for months.
Data released by the FCTA last year showed that out of 261,914 Area Council land documents submitted between 2006 and 2023, only 8,287 had been vetted, representing 3.2 per cent of the total, leaving more than 253,000 applications yet to be cleared.
Officials of the Federal Capital Development Authority had previously acknowledged the slow pace of the screening exercise, noting that about 96.8 per cent of the submissions remained pending.
