Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has signed a total of 5, 481 certificates of occupancy as of December 31, 2024.
Lere Olayinka, the Minister’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, made this known in a statement on Tuesday.
He said that the figure represents a remarkable improvement, with 2, 919 fewer certificates of occupancy signed during Wike’s tenure, compared to the 8, 400 processed from 2010 to 2023, a period of 13 years.
The statement said the FCT administration had made significant reforms to expedite the issuance of the certificates of occupancy process, noting that land allottees can now receive their certificates of occupancy within two weeks of completing necessary payments.
“One of the reasons land allottees do not find it compelling to pay for their certificates of occupancy is because when they pay, they wait for years. But in line with the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Tinubu’s government, that has changed now,” Olayinka stated.
He asserted that the process for uploading necessary information to confirm certificates of occupancy collection, which previously took months, now takes only 72 hours.
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Giving details of the certificates of occupancy produced and signed in the FCT in the last 15 years, the minister’s spokesperson said: “From May 2010 to May 2015, a total of 5, 655 certificates of occupancy were produced and signed.
“From May 2015 to May 2019, a total of 1, 174 certificates of occupancy were produced and signed, while 1, 571 were done between May 2019 and May 2023.
“Meanwhile, from May 2023 that President Tinubu assumed office till December 31, 2024, a total of 5, 481 certificates of occupancy were produced and signed by the FCT minister.
“Also, in the next few weeks, land allottees whose certificates of occupancy are ready for collection will begin to receive auto-generated SMS because it has been discovered that most of them don’t even know that their title documents are ready.”