Worried by the lack of adequate information about transaction in real estate administration and other bottlenecks in the industry, a real estate consultant, Mr Chika Ogbonna, has called for the deployment of advanced information technology to reduce dysfunctions in the industry.

In an interaction with The Tide in Port Harcourt, Ogbonna said that the deployment of such technology was necessary due to some bottlenecks and lack of adequate information about transactions in the industry.

He said that the use of advanced technology was vital in making information more readily available in support of land markets and urban as well as the rural development.

According to him, “Dysfunctions like weak land markets, conflicts over ownership, land grabs, social disharmony, reductions in yield, diminished food security and negative impacts on the environment are major issues confronting the sector.”

Ogbonna who is the principal partner of Ogbonna and Co, an Estate Surveyors and Valuers firm, said that ICT could provide innovative outreach channels to the poor and the less-privileged.

“ICT in land administration can create accurate, accessible, secure and complete information about land and property in an effective way that promotes confidence among stakeholders. It can support the entire life cycle of land reform, from identification of current owners and patterns of land tenure through the analysis of reallocation option to the provision of land registration,” he said.

The real estate consultant posited also that ICT can be used to identify owners, extent of ownership, land use and values in areas where land consolidation is planned, pointing also that countries with mature ICT infrastructure have established e-planning portals that allow citizens to access land-use control information.

Ogbonna therefore urged government to create a legal framework to enable ICT-based land administration service in the country.

Corlins Walter