The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has reduced the waiting period for landowners to obtain Certificates of Occupancy (C-of-Os) from several years to two weeks.
The administration said the change is part of efforts to remove delays in property documentation and improve the ease of doing business in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The FCTA, under Minister Nyesom Wike, has produced and signed 26,272 C-of-Os since President Bola Tinubu assumed office, according to figures released by the administration.
Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Public Communications and Social Media, disclosed the figures in a statement on Sunday.
The figure is 17,575 higher than the 8,697 C-of-Os produced and signed between 2010 and 2023.
Olayinka said land allottees who had completed all required payments could now collect their C-of-Os within two weeks.
“The moment necessary payments are made, land allottees can now get their C-of-O within two weeks,” he said.
Automated Notification System
The administration has also introduced an automated notification system to alert allottees when their documents are ready for collection.
The system is intended to reduce repeated visits to government offices and make the documentation process more efficient.
A Certificate of Occupancy is an official land document that confirms a person’s recognised interest in a property. It can also help property owners secure commercial loans, mortgages and capital for business expansion.
Long delays in obtaining title documents can prevent property owners, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, from unlocking the financial value of their assets.
Delays Under Previous Administrations
The FCTA said many of the beneficiaries among the 26,272 allottees had received their land allocations more than a decade ago but remained without the necessary title documents.
Olayinka attributed the delays under previous administrations to inefficiencies in the documentation process.
He said the situation discouraged some allottees from completing payments for their properties.
The administration reported that 5,500 C-of-Os were produced and signed during the five-and-a-half-year administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Under former President Muhammadu Buhari, 3,197 C-of-Os were processed during his eight-year tenure.
The figures released by the FCTA show a sharp increase in land-title processing under the current administration compared with the two preceding administrations.
Property Approvals Increase
The FCTA also reported an increase in other property-related approvals within the last three years.
It said the administration granted 2,521 Consents to Assign and 177 Consents to Mortgage during the period.
A Consent to Assign is required for the legal transfer of property, while a Consent to Mortgage is needed before a property can be used as collateral for a loan.
The figures compare with 753 Consents to Assign and 180 Consents to Mortgage issued during the Jonathan administration.
Under Buhari, the FCTA granted 684 Consents to Assign and 164 Consents to Mortgage.
The administration said the changes would make land documentation faster, more transparent and more efficient.
It added that the process would help unlock the financial value of property and support the Federal Government’s ease-of-doing-business programme.
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