RSG Fast Tracks C Of O Issuance …Promises To Pay Cost For Undue Delays

Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega (right) presenting certificate of return to Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State in Abuja, on Monday

The Rivers State Government may pay fine to property owners in Rivers State who fail to obtain their Certificates of Occupancy within the stipulated periods from date of payment.

Also, land and property owners who breach their side of the processes would be made to pay penalty as well to the government.

Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi who said this on Monday while formally launching the state geographic information system (RIVGIS) as part of the land reform process in the state, says the state government will forward a bill to the state House of Assembly to regulate the procedure of securing land title in the state.

Governor Chibuike Amaechi said the bill when passed into law would stipulate penalties for deliberate delay in the procedure, and punishment for negligence on the part of both government officials and the land owners should they cause delay in the procedure.

Governor Amaechi said the law would guide the process of land and property administration in the state such that violators would be sanctioned accordingly, noting that it was the only way to sustain the exercise, and show that government was serious in the Land Reform Act.

He directed the Ministry of Lands and Survey to organise another stakeholders meeting wherein professionals in the properties sector would be expected to come out with ways of ensuring proper sustainability of the RIVGIS procedure.

The state chief executive said that following the successful establishment of the RIVGIS, the state government was now ready to sign all outstanding Certificates of Occupancy (Cof O), while new ones would be endorsed within short period of time after possible completion of the procedure, emphasising that the land reform promised to Rivers people from the onset of the present administration has now been realised.

He indicated that the state must be governed under the rule of law, and thanked all those who had contributed in different ways to ensure that the programme was realised.

The chairman of the occasion and the Amanyanabo of Twon Brass, King Alfred Diete-Spiff described the project as one of the dividends of democracy , and lauded the Rivers State Government for taking the bold step and called on the people to patronise the system.

The state Commissioner for Lands and Survey, Chief Ezemonye Ezekiel-Amadi, said the RIVGIS was aimed at fast-tracking services in land administration, as well as reposition land documentation infrastructure for proper service delivery.

He said land administration process was in a mess, with uncoordinated procedures leading to the state having a backlog of thousands of unsigned Certificate of Occupancy and title documents.

The event featured the practical demonstration of the workings of the Rivers State Geographic Information System, which can now be ready within 6 weeks from application to signing of title documents.