Nyesom Wike, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory has approved the cancellation of 485 land documents in Abuja after they failed official verification checks.
The affected titles were nullified following a joint review by the department of land administration and the Abuja geographic information systems.
According to a public notice issued by the Federal Capital Territory Administration on Monday, the cancelled documents formed part of Area Council submissions presented for regularisation.
It reads, “this is to inform the general public, particularly applicants who submitted Area Council land documents for regularisation, that the minister has approved the nullification or cancellation of applications that failed the necessary official checks for genuineness and have been confirmed to be fake.”
Authorities confirmed that the invalid applications have been removed from the regularisation database. Many of the documents, according to officials, did not pass authenticity screening.
The affected locations cut across several Area Councils.
In Bwari Area Council, the impacted layouts include Ushafa Village Expansion Scheme, Ushafa Extension and Dawaki Extension 1.
Within Abuja Municipal Area Council, the districts listed are 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 affected.
Some corporate bodies and organisations were listed among those whose documents were voided, including the Redeemed Christian Church of God and the Ministry of Justice Staff Multi-purpose Cooperative Society.
Under Nigerian law, all land in the FCT is vested in the Federal Government. Certificates of Occupancy and related titles must be processed through the office of the FCT Minister and formalised by AGIS.
The latest move forms part of wider land administration reforms introduced by the FCTA to address forged documents, double allocations and irregular grants allegedly issued by some Area Councils.
The reforms followed disclosures that out of 261,914 Area Council land documents submitted between 2006 and 2023, only 8,287 had been screened.
That figure represents just 3.2 per cent of total submissions, leaving over 253,000 documents pending clearance.
According to officials, the ongoing exercise is aimed at sanitising the system and restoring credibility to land administration in the nation’s capital.
