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Henceforth, anyone seeking to obtain C- of-O under the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA Abuja, should be ready to part with the sum of N5 million for the all important document.
Making the declaration at a meeting held with estate developers on Tuesday, November 21, 2023, in Abuja, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Chief Barrister Nyesom Wike stated that the payment could be made within 4 months of land allocation after which the C-of-O would be handed over to the applicant.
The minister informed that he would seek the approval of President Bola Tinubu to link applicants’ National Identification Number to C-of-Os before issuance.
He seized the occasion to also inform that the period where three or more persons were allocated the same plot of land with fake C-of-O is now a past tense.
Wike said: “Allocation of land to three or more persons will no longer be allowed because the C-of-O enables you to do business.
“When we make the right decision, some people will be happy, and some will not.
“The rich will kick against some of our decisions, but anything that will help our people must be done.’’
He assured that under his waych, orderliness and sanity would prevail both in the land administration system and processes in the FCT.
He regretted that workers’ salaries at the FCTA and the FCDA amounted to N8.9 billion every month.
Wike said he had saved N110 billion for the FCT since three months he assimed office , while assuring that the funds would be attached to specific projects.
Recalled that the minister inaugurated a taskforce on the issuance of Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) for housing estates and the recovery of land use contravention fees on November 14,2023
He explained that the measure was to ensure that each unit in the housing estates had its separate C-of-O.
Also recall that at the inauguration of the task force on the issuance of the C of O, Wike lamented that virtually all residential areas had been converted into commercial use, adding that measures will be put in place to address the matter.
He emphasized that those who ran foul of the Land Use Act must be recertified and pay penalties.
Wike explained further that those given approval for residential buildings have converted to commercial structures, while those approved for commercial also violated the law by building residential houses.
The minister accused government agencies in charge of land administration in the FCT as complicit.
He added that this was part of the reasons the agencies were included in the task force to solve the problem they were part of.
