Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Administration has reduced the waiting period for landowners to obtain Certificates of Occupancy (C-of-O) to two weeks, as part of reforms aimed at removing bottlenecks in property documentation and improving the ease of doing business.

The reform comes as the administration, under FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, records 26,272 Certificates of Occupancy signed since President Bola Tinubu assumed office.

The figure represents a significant increase over the 8,697 C-of-Os produced and signed between 2010 and 2023, with the current administration processing 17,575 more certificates than were signed during the preceding 13-year period.

Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.

Olayinka said the new process allows land allottees who have completed the required payments to obtain their Certificates of Occupancy within two weeks.

“The moment necessary payments are made, land allottees can now get their C-of-O within two weeks,” he said.

He added that the administration had introduced an automated notification system to alert allottees when their documents were ready for collection, further reducing the need for repeated visits to government offices.

The development is expected to have a direct impact on property owners and businesses that rely on land titles to access financing.

A valid Certificate of Occupancy serves as an important instrument for securing commercial loans, mortgages and capital for business expansion. Delays in obtaining the document can therefore prevent property owners, particularly small and medium-sized businesses, from converting their assets into productive capital.

The FCT Administration said many of the beneficiaries of the 26,272 C-of-Os processed under Wike had received their land allocations more than 10 years ago but were yet to obtain the necessary title documents.

Olayinka attributed the delays experienced under previous administrations to inefficiencies in the process, saying the bottlenecks discouraged some landowners from completing payments on their allocations.

A breakdown of the figures showed that 5,500 Certificates of Occupancy were produced and signed during the five-and-a-half-year administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, while 3,197 were processed during the eight-year administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

The FCT Administration also recorded an increase in property-related approvals under the current administration.

In the last three years, it granted 2,521 Consents to Assign and 177 Consents to Mortgage. This compares with 753 Consents to Assign and 180 Consents to Mortgage granted under Jonathan, and 684 Consents to Assign and 164 Consents to Mortgage under Buhari.

A Consent to Assign is required for the legal transfer of property, while a Consent to Mortgage is required before a property can be used as collateral for a loan.

The FCT Administration said the reforms were designed to make land documentation faster and more efficient, while unlocking the financial value of property and supporting the Federal Government’s broader ease-of-doing-business agenda. (The Sun)

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