Abia state government has commenced the process of revalidating land titles and surveys in the State, especially properties in its major cities of Aba and Umuahia, in a move to restore the master’plan of the towns.
Consequently, land title holders in the state have up till August 30, 2024, to submit their relevant documents to the Ministry of Lands and Housing, for verification and recertification, failing which the properties would be revoked.
Chaka Chukwumereije, State’s commissioner for Lands and Housing, explained that the programme would help to clean and upgrade its records, bring due diligence in land and property development in the State and unlock the wealth in the land.
According to him, the exercise, when concluded, would correct anomalies in the land system in the State and boost its value.
He said that there are many titles and surveys that are still using the “local/national origin, which is less accurate, noting that the State is transiting to the “universal transverse mercator (UTM), which gives accurate data.
“We are upgrading the accuracy of our records. We don’t want an issue, where 2-parcels of land will overlap or you go to a field and the land is 300 metres away from where it’s meant to be. Consequently, we want to ensure the accuracy of our land records”.
This is as he also noted that the programme would help clean up the State’s land registry.
“So, gone are the days when the State’s land titles are like tissue papers.
“For instance, in the past, somebody may get an allocation from the Abia State Government, but there is no land to support the allocation papers or when there is land, there may not be an access road to access the land”.
Chukwumereije, affirmed that one of the preconditions for issuance of title documents is that the land must be accessible.
In his words, “We are still at the submission stage, we will get into the verification phase when we would check lands, surveys and town planning approvals.
This will enable us to know those that built without the right plan or those, who got approval for residential buildings and converted the plans to commercial buildings”
He said that the State Government intends to use the programme to correct all the anomalies within the system, after which a certificate of occupancy (C of O), would be issued to qualified title holders, which “they can take to the bank”
He stressed that the idea behind the recertification programme is to unlock the wealth in the state’s lands.
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