Edo State Government has said it has deployed technology to ease the process of land registration and improve land management in the state.
Managing Director of Edo State Geographic Information Service Agency (EdoGIS), Frank Evbuomwan, disclosed this, while speaking with journalists in Benin City at the weekend.
He noted that the ease and convenience in processing title documents for landed property and the improved land administration has opened the state for economic growth and attracted several investors.
“The Certificates of Occupancy (C-of-Os) we offer now are all digital, including the filing system, which is captured online. The era of missing files is over.
“Also, the electronic process helps in retrieval of documents, as we are able to instantaneously retrieve whatever document we need. A critical factor to digitising the C-of-O process was having a digital mapping of the state through GIS technologies and this has enabled us to drill down plot by plot to every property in the state.
“So, not only do we have capacity to determine the extent of a property, we are also able to digitally store their ownership information. This means that it is impossible for a piece of land to have double ownership,” he stated.
He explained that this was a major boost for businessmen because once they have an EdoGIS C-of-O, they are assured that another certificate could not be issued on the same property without permission.
On the pricing and duration for processing the C-of-O, Evbuomwan said: “At the moment, the basic price is N50, 000 depending on the size of land.
“An average retail investor, who has 900square meters of land or 100ft by 100ft, and wants to use it for residential development would get his certificate for less than N80, 000.
“This is a far cry from the past when getting that same C-of-O usually cost over N1m. The certificate will be ready between 60 and 90 working days.”
