By Godwin Kingsley, Lafia Nasarawa State Government has issued 190 Certificates of Occupancy in two years as against 238 issued by previous regimes in 12 years, Commissioner for Land and Survey, Sonny Agassi has disclosed.
According to him, indigenes and inhabitants of the state are now reaping the dividends of democracy. He was speaking at the presentation of certificates of occupancy to over 10 land owners.
The certificates were issued on Saturday at a stakeholders outreach meeting organized by the Nasarawa Geographic Information System (NAGIS), at the Ta’al Conference hotel in Lafia.
NAGIS is a pet project of Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State, initiated to digitalize all lands in the state and issue certificates to land owners.
The Commissioner for Lands and Survey said, “The government of Governor Al-Makura has been able to issue out 190 C-of-Os within 29 months. This is against the 214 certificates issued between 1999 to 2007 and 24 certificates issued from 2007 to 2011”.
According to him, the ministry has also initiated a policy to issue out 100 C-of-O’s every week.
He admonished inhabitants of the state to imbibe the culture of acquiring the C-of-O as according to him, it could be used as collateral to secure loans from banks.
Agassi explained that the certificate was not meant for only indigenes of the state rather it meant for anybody with landed property in the state.
He therefore, gave assurance that the C-of-O’s would be issued to applicants after 21 day of application.
Speaking on behalf of the recipients, Yakubu Alhahu, a former deputy commission of Police in Jigawa state who received his C-of-O at the event said he has been applying for the certificate since 1990 but
his efforts were futile.
He thanked Governor Almakura for restructuring the system and making it easy for inhabitants to access the C-of-O.
