FCTA receives 7, 826 fresh applications for Abuja land in 2019

THE Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), on Tuesday, disclosed that it had received a total of 7,826 fresh applications requesting for various plots of land in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja in the year 2019.

The Director, Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS), Dr Isa Ibrahim Jalo disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja.

He revealed that the breakdown of the applications is: – private residential–4,901; commercial–2,120; resettlement–431; Area Council–373; and diplomatic–1.

Dr Jalo remarked that AGIS positively contributed to the success Nigeria recorded in its upward movement on the Ease of Doing Business on the 2019 World Bank index.

According to him, “In line with the aspirations of the Federal Government on the Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria, the Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS) has repositioned its Customer Service to make it more responsive and people result oriented.

“In consonance with this narrative, AGIS has re-modernized its website by making it interactive with the deployment of online customer complaint and feedback mechanism. This innovation allows the general public to lodge complaints, which can be promptly responded to.” He added.

A statement signed by Information & Customer Service, AGIS/Lands, Sule Haruna, quoted the director of saying it was in that spirit that “AGIS reactivated its Electronic Queue Management System which has led to the improvement of crowd management and sustained orderliness especially during peak hours of its operations.”

He reiterated that the production and conveyance processes of the Certificates of Occupancy have been re-organized to fast track its deliverance with the intention of reducing wastage of man-hour of the customers.

Dr Jalo added, “AGIS has worked fervently to quicken the process of payments for services like Legal Search, Deed of Assignment, Power of Attorney, Legal Mortgage and opening of new application files among others; thereby making Legal Search be conducted within 24 hours including its report to customers”.

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Also speaking, the FCT Director of Land Administration, Adamu Jibrin Hussaini noted that 2019 has been a rewarding year for AGIS & Land Administration because of the level of support received as well as the unprecedented achievements recorded.

He revealed that the Department created and institutionalized Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to reduce the time spent to seek redress in conventional courts on the dispute over land matters.

The director disclosed that the Department has successfully resolved 7 cases using ADR mechanism while 20 other cases are at advanced stages of determination.

Hussaini revealed that the FCT Minister so far signed and conveyed 785 Certificates of Occupancy in 2019 alone, while efforts are being made to fast track the process of timely issuance of Certificates of Occupancy in tune with the SERVICOM Charter of the Federal Government and the Executive Order on the Ease of Doing Business.

The director further revealed that the Department embarked on an in-house cleaning and sorted out 11,263 uncollected Certificates of Occupancy stored. He thus, took advantage of this medium to call on the owners of all these uncollected Certificates of Occupancy to come forward to claim them; stressing that these are transactable as well as mortgageable documents that shouldn’t be left in the vaults.

He further disclosed that the Department also has 6,402 Rights of Occupancy in its vaults uncollected and advised such allottees to take possession of these title documents.

“Since the coming of this Administration, the Department of Land Administration has proactively sorted out thousands of title documents including 11,263 Certificates of Occupancy (Cs of O) and 6,402 Rights of Occupancy (Rs of O) in its vault that are awaiting collection by the allottees,” Hussainin emphasized.

On the knotty issues of double allocation, the Director stated that the FCT Administration has resolved several cases of double/multiple land allocations and concrete measures has been taken to safeguard future occurrences.

He recalled that the FCT Administration has completed the designation of four brand new districts in the Federal Capital City namely Mamusa North, Mamusa East, Parfun North and Parfun South to take care of the deficit of planned plots in Abuja.

“Accordingly, these new districts with the thousands of plots generated would go a long way to relieve pressure on outstanding applications for different development purposes in the Federal Capital Territory”, he stressed.

Hussaini used the occasion to once again call on plot owners in the serviced districts within Phases I, II & III of the Federal Capital City, Abuja, to develop them in line with the stipulated two months grace given by the FCTA which is expected to expire on Sunday, February 2, 2020, or have such titles revoked.