REDAN Urges National Assembly to Pass Laws Curbing Arbitrary Land Revocation in Abuja

Real estate developers are calling on the National Assembly to enact legislation that would put an end to the arbitrary revocation of land allocations in the Federal Capital Territory.

Festus Uwakhemen, a realtor and member of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria, made the appeal in a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja, highlighting the growing concerns among property owners over the uncertainty of land titles.

Uwakhemen explained that the proposed legislation would provide greater assurance to individuals and corporate organisations that their land titles cannot be indiscriminately revoked by successive administrations.

According to him, the call has become necessary due to frequent instances where FCT ministers revoke land allocations approved by their predecessors—a practice he said has adversely affected many property owners in the nation's capital.

"The National Assembly has to pass a law that when a minister has approved any land, in principle or either through a Certificate of Occupancy, no other minister has the power to revoke the land except if the land passes through the National Assembly," Uwakhemen stated.

"With that, we are going to have sanity. But if that is not passed, every minister has the power to revoke. They can come to your house and say your house is on the waterways. That is why people in the FCT keep having issues of revocation. You'll see a big estate, and they'll just come and say the land has been removed because the minister seeks to have the gavel."

He further noted that restricting arbitrary revocations would promote greater accountability in land administration, explaining that when ministers know they cannot easily revoke allocations, they will think more carefully before granting approvals.

The proposal seeks to add a legislative check to the process, ensuring that any revocation must pass through the National Assembly rather than being left solely to ministerial discretion.