The Gombe State Government says it is deploying modern technology to accelerate the issuance of Digital Certificates of Occupancy.
Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya disclosed this at the opening ceremony of a two-day stakeholder engagement workshop on land administration organised by the Gombe State Geographic Information Systems, GOGIS.
He said this had become possible through the award of contract for the aerial survey of the entire state using orthophoto technology.
The Gombe State Governor said the GOGIS workshop was organised to explore all issues surrounding effective, efficient and just land administration and provide traditional, religious and community leaders the opportunity to freely interact with local government council chairmen and officials responsible for the implementation of our land administration reforms.
He said when the project was eventually completed, it would upgrade the existing aerial photographs and geographic maps of the state by producing high-resolution GIS imagery, which would enable clear identification of property boundaries for the ease of application and issuance of digital C of O.
Governor Yahaya said the workshop with the stakeholders was important to further enlighten all relevant stakeholders in the state with the reforms that his administration had introduced on land administration, in line with global best practices.
“It is established the world over that a just and efficient land administration system is necessary in order to guarantee ownership and security of tenure, provide security for credit, support land and property taxation, monitor land transactions as well as reduce incessant disputes associated with the land. A good land administration system is also essential in order to improve urban planning, support infrastructural development and proper environmental management,” the Governor explained.
The Gombe State Governor said he considered GOGIS an important agency of government through the provision of state-of-the-art office accommodation and operational incentives, including modern ICT infrastructure, to ensure proper implementation of the first phase of its establishment.
He said some reforms had been initiated to check uncontrolled alienation of communal lands, ensure the provision of basic physical and organisational infrastructure and expand the radius of all existing urban areas while creating new ones in all the local government areas of the state.
To align with modern realities in metropolitan development, Governor Yahaya said his administration initiated the Gombe Capital Special Development Zone project, to provide befitting structures, access roads and other facilities while also ensuring strict compliance with development control regulations in and around the state capital.
He said consequent to that, there was the temporary suspension of land transactions, buildings and building plan approval at the area designated as Gombe Capital Special Development Zone, pending the completion of layout auditing exercises and proper verification and re-certification of all land titles in the affected layouts.
According to him, as soon as the layout auditing was completed, the suspension would be lifted to allow individuals to proceed with the development of their plots in line with the requirements of the law.
He said a special project implementation, monitoring and evaluation team had been appointed to ensure proper implementation of these designated areas in conjunction with all relevant ministries, departments and agencies.
Governor also announced that GOGIS had recently conducted a thorough audit of some of the affected layouts.
“Preliminary findings revealed several distortions and illegal activities, such as blockage of 13 major access roads in GDP 16, 4 major roads in GDP 4 and another 4 major roads in GDP 4A, sub-division of the federal secretariat plot into personal and individual plots, deliberate change of purpose through the conversion of areas meant for public facilities such as hospitals, fire service and religious activities into residential plots, encroachment of building lines, illegal sub-division or merger of plots and irrational use of land titles amongst others,” said Governor Yahaya.
He said he had recently approved the revocation of the 274 hectares of land located to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, which was left undeveloped for decades, but that the new layout would be used to accommodate the 250-unit North East Development Commission, NEDC Housing Project and the 1,000-unit Family Homes Fund project.
The Gombe State Governor, however, said the government would provide the necessary modern infrastructure to ensure that the layout was developed in line with modern real estate development standards, such as access roads, street lights, shopping malls, schools, hospitals, among others.
“Equally, this new layout will also be used to compensate all people whose land may be affected by the redesign and rectifications to be carried out at the Capital Special Development Zone.”
PIAK
