The Federal Capital Territory 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 eliminating bottlenecks in property documentation and improving the ease of doing business.

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

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

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

Olayinka said land allottees who have completed the required payments can now 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, reducing the need for repeated visits to government offices.

The reform is expected to benefit property owners and businesses that rely on land titles to access financing.

A valid Certificate of Occupancy is an important document for securing commercial loans, mortgages and capital for business expansion. Delays in obtaining the document can prevent property owners, particularly small and medium-sized businesses, from unlocking the financial value of their assets.

According to the FCT Administration, many beneficiaries of the 26,272 C-of-Os processed under Wike received their land allocations more than a decade ago but had yet to obtain the necessary title documents.

Olayinka attributed the delays under previous administrations to inefficiencies in the documentation 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 other 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 aimed at making land documentation faster and more efficient, unlocking the financial value of property and supporting the Federal Government’s broader ease-of-doing-business agenda.