Advocacy Group Raises Concerns Over Land Fraud

The Citizens Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights (CASER) on Tuesday raised the alarm over alleged escalating and heightened land scam in Abuja.

This is coming even as the body called on the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), to urgently intervene and protect Nigerians from the growing menace of fraudulent land sales across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Executive director, Citizens Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights, Barr. Frank Tietie, who made the call while briefing reporters in Abuja, expressed deep concern over the alarming proliferation of unregulated land vendors operating both on the streets of Abuja and across social media platforms.

Tasking the media on the development, he said thousands of plots and purported “estate developments” are being marketed and sold for tens of millions of Naira without any verifiable title or certification from the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).

Tietie said many of these land transactions are based on false claims, fabricated documents, and misleading assurances designed to lure unsuspecting members of the public into parting with substantial sums of money.

He stated that “What we are witnessing is a coordinated pattern of consumer exploitation. Unscrupulous land vendors are taking advantage of regulatory gaps to defraud Nigerians of their life savings under the guise of property ownership.”

The organization further noted that victims of these schemes are often left with no legal title, face protracted disputes, and in many cases become entangled in police investigations and costly litigation, with little hope of recovering their funds.

CASER emphasized that the situation poses a serious threat not only to individual consumers but also to public confidence in Nigeria’s real estate sector and the integrity of land administration in the FCT.

Relying on the provisions of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018, CASER urged the FCCPC to take immediate and decisive steps to curb the fraudulent practices and safeguard consumers.

Specifically, the organization called on the commission to develop and enforce strict regulatory standards governing the advertisement and sale of land and real estate across FCT.