Lagos introduces ‘Land Administration Campuses’ for seamless transactions

As part of measures to further make Lagos attractive to investors and enhance access to land, the state government has introduced the ‘Land Administration Campus.’
This involves bringing relevant government agencies and departments involved in land administration to one location to further ease the process of land acquisition, registration and title. The agencies include Land Bureau, Office of the Surveyor General and Ministry Planning and Urban Development.
The state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, announced this, Thursday, at the handing over of the state’s newly upgraded Land Registry in Ikeja, just as he disclosed that a total of 4,602 Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) had been signed in the last two years, to clear the backlog inherited by his administration.
The governor added that 6,118 Governor’s Consent and 314 Deemed Grant Consent totalling 11,034 land titles had also been signed and issued during the period mentioned.
“With the land administration reforms, entrepreneurs and individuals will now be able to register their titles faster and have access to capital. This will in turn create opportunities for jobs and also wealth creation,” Ambode said.
The governor said new measures were being put in place in the sector to reposition land administration for efficiency and enhance the ease of doing business.
According to Ambode, when his administration came on board, one of the major challenges hampering the ease of doing business was the bottleneck in land administration, and that immediate steps were taken to reform the sector, especially through the deployment of cutting-edge technology to drive efficiency in the land registry, administration and management system.
Describing the new land registry as another major step towards the ideal situation in land administration and management, he said the essence of the reforms were basically to unleash private enterprise as land is a very vital asset with which the people could access capital and thereby increase economic activities, adding that the initiative was also aimed at improving the ease of doing business in the state.
“This new registry is equipped with a Thomson Reuters suite of technology modules designed to conduct rapid inventory of actual/existing land rights, automate and manage land records and ensure integration of geographic data/Survey. This solution also comes with online consummation of all levels of services rendered by the Lands Bureau.
“With this new registry, we will streamline the process of registering title and remove the bottlenecks previously associated with the process. The redesigned layout of the registry makes it more service friendly to all who have land transactions to process.”
The idea, according to Ambode, is to create a one-stop shop where the office of the state Surveyor General, Ministry of Physical Planning & Urban Development and the Lands Bureau are located within the same complex, to fast-track processing of land titles.
He said with the new arrangement and deployment of the new Integrated Land Administration and Automation System and the Geographical Information System (GIS), the state government would achieve a combined effect of making the process of securing land title seamless, and also engender the highest level of security and integrity of title document.
He pledged to continue to fine-tune the processes of land administration to meet changing times and yield positive dividends for the people. He also reassured of his administration’s resolve to stamp out the issue of land grabbing from the state.
“I want to use this opportunity to restate the commitment of our administration to stamp out land grabbing. We will arrest and prosecute any identified land grabber. We assure all our investors of the safety of their property and urge you to take advantage of our task force on land grabbing if you encounter any challenges.
“Our government is deliberate and strategic; our policy thrust is built on a tripod of security, infrastructure and job creation. We are working constantly to provide security for our residents and investors. We have invested massively on infrastructure especially roads to open up new areas, increase the value of land and give our people access to their property.
Earlier, Yetunde Onabule, the special adviser to the governor on urban development, said the completion of the new land registry was a significant milestone towards revolutionising land administration in the state.

 

JOSHUA BASSEY