The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has approved the cancellation of 485 land titles in Abuja after they failed official verification checks.
The action was announced on Monday by the Federal Capital Territory Administration following a review carried out by the Department of Land Administration and the Abuja Geographic Information Systems.
The decision affects applicants who submitted Area Council land documents for regularisation.
The affected documents were removed from the regularisation database after authorities concluded that they did not meet the required standards. Officials involved in the screening process found that many of the papers could not pass authenticity tests and were confirmed to be fake.
In a public notice marked as Batch I, the FCTA informed the public that the invalid applications had been nullified. The notice was directed mainly at individuals and organisations that had presented Area Council land documents for validation under the ongoing reform process.
The cancelled titles cut across several Area Councils and layouts within the FCT. In Bwari Area Council, the locations involved include Ushafa Village Expansion Scheme, Ushafa Extension and Dawaki Extension 1.
In the Abuja Municipal Area Council, the affected areas 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 locations impacted by the cancellation.
Some corporate bodies and groups were also affected, including the Redeemed Christian Church of God and the Ministry of Justice Staff Multi-purpose Cooperative Society.
Under existing law, all land in the FCT belongs to the Federal Government. Legal land titles, including Certificates of Occupancy, must be processed through the office of the FCT Minister and formalised by the Abuja Geographic Information Systems.
Any document issued outside this process is subject to review and possible cancellation.
The latest move is part of ongoing land reforms introduced by the FCTA to address problems such as forged papers, double allocations and irregular grants said to have been issued in the past by some Area Councils.
The administration had earlier disclosed that out of 261,914 Area Council land documents submitted between 2006 and 2023 for regularisation, only 8,287 had been screened.
That figure represents a small fraction of the total submissions, leaving more than 253,000 documents pending in the system.
Officials admitted that progress in clearing the backlog has been slow over the years, with most of the submissions still awaiting verification.
The cancellation of the 485 titles forms part of efforts to clean up the database and ensure that only valid land documents remain recognised within the Federal Capital Territory.