AACSTRIS and forces against its operations
At the inception of the Bala Mohammed administration in 2010, government established an ad-hoc committee under the leadership of Senator Abubakar Dansadau to look into the issues surrounding land administration in the FCT. One of its terms of references was “The repositioning of Abuja Geographical Information System (AGIS) to provide credible land data, plugging loopholes […]
At the inception of the Bala Mohammed administration in 2010, government established an ad-hoc committee under the leadership of Senator Abubakar Dansadau to look into the issues surrounding land administration in the FCT. One of its terms of references was “The repositioning of Abuja Geographical Information System (AGIS) to provide credible land data, plugging loopholes for fraud and leakages, as well as establishing a sound institutional framework, good condition of services to enhance efficiency, transparency and accountability.”
The Dansadau committee discovered that over 150,000 area council land allocations were without proper title. In the committee’s short term recommendation no. 2.3.9, it states, “FCT Administration should set up project teams to start the process of generating CofOs for the area councils. This should be well articulated and executed with precision. The current situation is locking over N30billion in assets, assuming an average market value of N200,000 per allocation. This is a quick win for the new FCT leadership as it will increase the revenue capacity of the FCT.”
However, it was realized that a backlog of over 240,000 area council files existed for upgrade from the Customary Titles to Statutory Rights of Occupancy. This gap, being the result of public sector’s shortcomings led to the engagement of a private outfit to establish an organization known as Accelerated Area Council Sectional Title Re-Issuance Scheme (AACSTRIS) as consultants for the clearance of the backlog alongside Mass Housing titling. The project which was flagged off in 2011 is funded at zero cost to the FCTA, and as of today, over 1,000 applications have been cleared for CofO production.
Applicants are to pay N100,000 revalidation fee. Out of this amount, the expenditure for operation and running cost, including whatever benefits to accrue to the consultant is only in 60 percent of this fee, 40 percent goes to the FCTA at no cost. This excludes the government official charges for the CofO. Assuming a minimum of N1million for official rate per CofO, the estimated revenue for these initial 1,000 applicants for the payment of CofO to the FCTA, from the area councils alone, stands at more than N1billion. This was done over two years ago. Unfortunately, this revenue is yet to be realized, because as of now no single CofO is produced.
AACSTRIS is about the only surviving Public Private Partnership (PPP) project in the FCTA. In spite of the lack of cooperation from the stakeholder departments within the FCTA, it was able to remit almost half a billion naira to the FCTA. This is just a tip of the iceberg, because if the 240,000 area council files are allowed to be worked upon, the expected revenue to the FCTA would be N240billion. This excludes other revenues from Mass Housing certificates. If the present minister takes interest in the project, there is positive indication that the amount to be realized as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for the FCTA from this project alone shall surpass the above estimate.
The revenue shall be realized quicker if a deadline is issued to all Area Council Customary titleholders to upgrade to Statutory Titles, and CofO issued on Mass Housing properties. Meanwhile, we urge the new FCT administration to review the administrative flow chart between it and AACSTRIS, with the view to enhancing the operation of the project and the realization of its objectives.
Also, the administration should investigate and arrest all the clandestine activities perpetrated by any stakeholder department, and deal with any individual in the FCTA serving as impediment to the operations of the AACSTRIS project. This becomes imperative due to a very disturbing allegation of covert activity of a desk officer who charges N250,000 per CofO before its production. The confirmation of such allegation should explain why AACSTRIS project is being frustrated. Because, even if it wants to, it cannot raise such amount from the N60,000 only per applicant, that is due to it from the revalidation fee.
Meanwhile, beyond the AACSTRIS project, we wish to advise the FCT administration to commission a special investigation with the view to fishing out allottees that were issued CofO simply for satisfying some individuals, without proper payments to the authorities.