FCTA MASSIVELY BOOSTS BUSINESS CLIMATE AS WIKE BEATS 13-YEAR RECORD, SIGNS 26,272 C-of-O.
By: Wisdom Acka
In a major push to enhance the ease of doing business and advance President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has issued 26,272 Certificates of Occupancy (C-of-O) under the leadership of FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.
The figure represents a dramatic increase compared to previous records, exceeding the total number of land titles signed over the preceding 13 years by 17,575.
Between 2010 and 2023, only 8,697 Certificates of Occupancy were processed and signed across two federal administrations -5,500 under the five-and-a-half-year presidency of Goodluck Jonathan, and 3,197 during the eight-year tenure of Muhammadu Buhari.
Many land allottees who received their land allocations more than a decade ago had faced persistent delays in acquiring legal documentation.
Because a Certificate of Occupancy serves as crucial collateral for commercial loans, mortgages, and business expansion, the long-standing backlog severely constrained access to funding for small and medium-sized enterprises across the territory.
This was contained in a statement released on Sunday, 16 August, 2026 by the Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka.
The statement disclosed that the FCTA has overhauled its operations to eliminate administrative bottlenecks that previously discouraged land allottees from completing their statutory payments.
According to it, allottees can now obtain their land title documents within two weeks of completing necessary payments under the streamlined system supported by an automated notification system that alerts land owners when their documents are cleared for collection.
Parts of the statement read: “Beyond land titles, the administration has expanded other regulatory approvals necessary for commercial transactions and property development,
“In the past three years, the FCTA granted 2,521 Consents to Assign—the legal requirement for transferring property ownership—and 177 Consents to Mortgage, which permit property owners to use land as collateral.
“By comparison, the Jonathan administration granted 753 Consents to Assign and 180 Consents to Mortgage, while the Buhari administration recorded 684 Consents to Assign and 164 Consents to Mortgage.”
The sweeping administrative reforms reflect an ongoing effort by the current administration to unlock capital, safeguard property rights, and stimulate economic activity throughout the nation’s capital, it stated
