Lawrence Bajah, Abuja
In the wake of proliferation of land racketeering and illegal development of estates in Abuja, the nation’s capital city, Director, Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS), Dr. Isa Ibrahim Jalo, has admonished Abuja residents to always carry out due diligence on land titles especially those advertised on social media, in order to ascertain their authenticity, before they decide to transact.
This is coming of the heels of the arrest of no fewer than seven estate developers allegedly involved in illegal developments and land grabbing in Guzape II, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).
Jalo, who spoke with newsmen while reacting to the development, decried that despite several awareness campaign against the menace, some members of the public are still very gullible to land grabbers, who put up advertorials on social media and other platforms in the city.
He particularly noted that people are supposed to visit the FCT Department of Land administration, which will check any land title record on the AGIS database, to ascertain whether it exists or not, before they do the transaction.
He added that even those with authentic land titles, cannot start development without obtaining approval from the FCT Development Control Department and other relevant agencies in the Territory.
According to him: “You just see somebody advertising on the social media or somewhere in the papers, and you just decide to patronise and buy land; you don’t do that, as you are supposed to come to Department of Land administration, which will check your record on the AGIS database, to ascertain whether it exists or not, before you do the transaction.
“One thing is for sure, most of the public are aware of the fact that AGIS is where the official records of land adminstration are kept, as all departments submit their data. And you cannot go and start development without having a title from the official record, which is one very illegal act.
“Even is you have an AMAC title, by virtue of the Supreme Court judgement, all titles in the FCT belongs to the Federal Government, so you cannot claim that because you have an AMAC title, then you go ahead to start development. You cannot even start development without the FCT Development Control Department’s approval in the first instance.
“And for all those titles that area council titles dating back to 2004 to 2005 are only subject to regularisation, and until those titles are regularised by the FCT Minister, and are fully captured into the AGIS database, and you are going to be given statutory title, before you go ahead and start the process for development. So you don’t have right to do so, even if you have AMAC title”.
Recall that FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello had in 2021 commissioned the Accelerated Area Council Sectional Title Re-Issuance Scheme (AACSTRIS) and AGIS Data Centre, for the regularisation of the Area Council land titles from customary to statutory.
