Daily Independent Online.
*
Tuesday, July 06, 2004.
Presidency revokes all C of Os in Abuja
• Targets N10bn from re-certification exercise
By Don Bassey
Correspondent,
Abuja
All
choice plots in high brow Abuja whose acquisition dates back 28 years are to be
forfeited in an initiative by Aso Rock to verify genuine claims. Authentic
owners may have them back, but only if they satisfy some strict conditions.
President
Olusegun Obasanjo has directed Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nasir
el-Rufai, to immediately withdraw all Certificates of Occupancy (C-of-Os)
issued between 1976 - when Abuja was first mooted as the country’s capital - and
now.
All
the over 230,000 certificates issued by past and present FCT administrations
stand nullified. A new unit - Abuja Geographical Information System
(AGIS) Project - has been created to certify and re-issue them within the
next nine months for the Federal Capital City (FCC) and 18 months for the rest
of the FCT.
El-Rufai
announced the revocation in Abuja on Monday.
He
said the completion of the geographic information survey in Phases 1 and 2 of
the Abuja Master Plan brought the realisation that about 50,000 C-of-Os would
be revoked in the first instance.
The
re-certification exercise will cost N300 million but the ministry expects to generate N10 billion from
it.
To
qualify, a certificate holder need satisfy three stiff conditions: evidence of
payment of all fees, fines, levies, charges, surcharges and other penalties;
payment of all outstanding bills, including but not limited to those from FCT
Water Board, Lands Department, Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB),
Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Development Control and other
such agencies of the FCT. Also, “the land and building(s) thereon must be
free of any land violations, and/or service and utility line violations”.
Violations
are classified into “compatible land use violations” and
“condoned violations”.
They
include building on utility lines or corridors (sewer, water or
telecommunication lines), encroachment on road/railway reservations and
specific open spaces, structures that endanger general safety or objectionable
to the public or are redeemable for overriding public use and interests.
Others
could still lose their C-of-Os if the minister deems their structure(s)
unsuitably sited in any location, including illegally occupied land and
squatter settlements.
For
those who change the “purpose clause” from residential to
commercial and those who erect structures that would normally have met
Development Control requirements, el-Rufai said: “Where a title-holder or
tenant retains the change of land use for which the payment of violation
charges for the accrued years has been made, or if the title-holder or his
tenant effects a subsequent change of purpose, the annual penalty and violation
charges will continue to apply, until reversed”.
He
announced that between 30 and 50 firms of land surveyors, estate surveyors and
valuers, and quantity surveyors would be hired to prepare cadastral surveys and
property valuations for assessing ground rents, land use charges and other
valuations.
Announcing
dire consequences for those who fail to comply with the new regime, el-Rufai
said: “Any title-holder who fails to certify his offer or R of O, or get
it re-issued as appropriate within the time period, will be deemed to be
holding a forgery, and the land in question re-possessed by the Minister of the
FCT”.
El-Rufai
said the new C-of-O, a copy of which was presented to reporters, contained more
security features than the Nigerian currency - Naira - would require
title-holders to physically present themselves for their photographs to be
taken or send their digital pictures to be used on the C-of-Os. Obasanjo, the
minister said, had already offered to kick-start the exercise as soon as the
AGIS team starts operations.
