The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, Nyesom Wike, has approved the cancellation of 485 land documents in Abuja after they failed to meet required verification standards.
The decision followed an extensive screening exercise carried out by the Department of Land Administration in partnership with the Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS).
Officials disclosed that the affected documents did not pass authenticity checks, with a number confirmed to be forged.
In a public notice issued on Monday and tagged Batch I, the FCTA announced that the invalid submissions had been expunged from the regularisation database.
The notice was specifically addressed to applicants who presented Area Council land documents for validation.
“This is to inform the general public, particularly applicants who submitted Area Council land documents for regularisation, that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory has approved the nullification or cancellation of applications that failed the necessary official checks for genuineness and have been confirmed to be fake,” the notice stated.
The cancelled titles span multiple Area Councils and layouts within the Federal Capital Territory.
In Bwari Area Council, the affected locations include Ushafa Village Expansion Scheme, Ushafa Extension and Dawaki Extension 1.
Within the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), impacted districts comprise 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.
Among the organisations impacted by the cancellations are the Redeemed Christian Church of God and the Ministry of Justice Staff Multi-purpose Cooperative Society, among others.
Under Nigerian law, ownership of land in the FCT is vested in the Federal Government, with Certificates of Occupancy and other titles processed through the office of the FCT Minister and formalised by AGIS.
The cancellations form part of ongoing land administration reforms by the FCTA aimed at tackling persistent issues such as forged documentation, double allocations and irregular grants allegedly issued by certain Area Councils.
The action is also tied to a broader regularisation programme that has been in progress for months. Momentum for the reforms increased last year when the FCTA revealed that only 8,287 of the 261,914 Area Council land documents submitted between 2006 and 2023 had undergone screening.
The verified applications accounted for just 3.2 per cent of total submissions, leaving 253,627 still pending in the database at the time.
Officials acknowledged that progress had been slow, with 96.8 per cent of submissions awaiting clearance, highlighting the magnitude of the verification process currently underway.
