Surveyors Want Amendment Of Land Use Act

Not comfortable with some provisions of the Land use Act, the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS) Rivers State Chapter has called for the amendment of the act, so as to remove some “bottle necks” in Land administration and property development.

The Chairman of the Institution Chief L.W. Chukwu, who made the call in Port Harcourt in an interview with The Tide stated that the call became necessary even at this time when a lot of changes is taking place where there had been increased demand on housing among other things.

Chukwu said that there are certain clauses that have made it very tasking and difficult for surveyors to discharge their functions effectively and that such also give challenges to issues of quick documentation or the process of Certificate of Occupancy (C/O acquisition.

He said “one of the clauses that we are not comfortable with is the attachment of survey sketch on Certificate of Occupancy, and we wish that the clause be removed, but we want only the survey plan to be attached”.

The Rivers Surveyors’ boss who is a fellow of the NIS also said that he is in support of the amendment of the Land Use Act, but not for the repeal of the act because of this and other reasons that have made things a bit difficult in property acquisition and development.

“It is the surveyor who determines where the land is, and surveying the land or property is very important, and it is part of the requirement for the registration and issuance of Certificate of Occupancy (C/O)”, he said.

According to him “it is the surveyor plan that will accompany the C of O, he said. The governor will demand for it, and the surveyor general will sign his own part of the processing and also make sure that such plan exists in the place where it ought to, and will also have a physical verification on the Land before the document will be sent back to the Ministry, and onward to the governor”.

Chuku maintained that a newspaper publication for one month is required so as to ascertain if there will be any objection from the public about the said property, and where there is none that the C of O can be processed and issued.