The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has approved the cancellation of 485 land documents in Abuja after they failed to meet verification standards.
The affected documents were nullified following a review by the Department of Land Administration in collaboration with the Abuja Geographic Information Systems.
Officials said many of the documents did not pass authenticity checks and were confirmed to be fake.
In a public notice issued on Monday and marked as Batch I, the FCT Administration confirmed that the invalid applications had been removed from the regularisation database.
The notice specifically addressed applicants who had submitted 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 read.
The cancelled documents span multiple Area Councils and layouts. In Bwari Area Council, affected locations include Ushafa Village Expansion Scheme, Ushafa Extension, and Dawaki Extension 1.
In Abuja Municipal Area Council, impacted districts include 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 areas.
Those affected include organisations such as the Redeemed Christian Church of God and the Ministry of Justice Staff Multi-purpose Cooperative Society, among others.
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Under Nigerian law, all land in the FCT is vested in the Federal Government. Certificates of Occupancy and other land titles must be processed through the office of the FCT Minister and formalised by AGIS.
The cancellations form part of ongoing land administration reforms initiated by the FCTA to address issues including forged documents, double allocations, and irregular grants allegedly issued by some Area Councils.
The reforms follow a review of submissions dating back to 2006, when the FCTA disclosed that only 8,287 out of 261,914 Area Council land documents submitted between 2006 and 2023 had been screened — representing just 3.2 per cent of total submissions. Officials noted that 96.8 per cent of documents were still pending verification.
The latest action is part of a broader regularisation exercise aimed at improving transparency and ensuring the integrity of land administration in the FCT.