Ogun Govt To Sanction Undocumented Property Owners

The Ogun State Government has stated that owners of property in the state without legal documentation would henceforth be sanctioned.

The state governor, Ibikunle Amosun, who stated this recently at the launch of “Homeowners Charter” Programme organised by the state government in Abeokuta, decried the increasing number of undocumented property, and advised owners to avail themselves of the homeowner charter programme, which comes at a discount rate.

He said “Analysis showed that in some key areas, the vast majority of residential property in Ogun State did not have legally recognised documentation in the form of Building Plan Approval or Certificates of Occupancy”.

“In the past 10 to 12 years, the culture of building without approval had become rampant and well-orchestrated. The consensus view that prevailed among the people was that once the property had been constructed, government cannot and will not do anything about it”, Amosun stated.

According to him, the consequences of building without approval are extremely grave for affected persons and government.

The governor explained that the programme was aimed at allowing home owners regularise the legal status and documentation of their property, adding that the state government would also provide data for the medium term planning of roads, schools, hospitals and other essential services in the state.

He said that proper documentation would also afford owners of property of using their property as collateral or while selling the property.

The governor said “Without documentation, thousands of property owners are not able to prove legal ownership of their property. Such property, no matter how valuable, cannot be offered as security for even the smallest loan”.

The Director-General, Bureau of Lands, Mr Adewale Oshinowo, earlier, said those who build on government lands had been offered an opportunity to purchase the land at a deeply discount rate.

Oshinowo urged property owners to take advantage of the programme to regularise their status.

He said “using our Geographic Information System (GIS) satellite image system, we will track those properties that have not regularise their status.