Kogi digitalised land documentation system

KOGI state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, on Thursday inaugurated the Kogi State Geographic Information Systems (KOGIS) with a directive to property owners to recertify their certificate of occupancy

The governor said the new project was aimed at ensuring a secured land management system that could process, analyse, store and retrieve land data electronically.

The KOGIS is a project that allows documenting the process in one stop shop that would also engender speed, efficiency and transparency in land records administration system in the state.

According to the governor, KOGIS was put in place to make the state move from the inefficient era of the analogue system of land documentation to a computerised land administration system which would increase the channels of service delivery to the public through modern ICTs tools.

He regretted that the previous land documentation system in the state had made the state to lose significant revenues due to the inefficient manual processes, inadequate infrastructural framework and analogue system of land documentation and record keeping.

He added that the new system expected all property owners to recertify their Certificates of Occupancies where they exist while holders of Right of Occupancies (R of Os) are to obtain the secured C of O.

The commissioner for works, lands, housing and urban development Abdulmumuni Sadiq, said the new land documentation system would end land racketeering across the state.

Apart from this, he said the move would end also double allocation, missing of land files, half hazard land allocation, document mutilation, outright fraud and encroachment associated with the analogue land administration is gone for good.

He said, “On the assumption of office, we noted that we cannot continue to do the same thing the same way and expect a different result. Furthermore, I put on the table the new direction policy of this administration and together, we resolve to deliver on a seamless land administration in the state.

“The possibility for the state to increase its Internally Generated Revenue derivable from a well-managed land administration has now been activated.

“Now that the GIS is in place and taking off, we promise to work in adding our quota to the State’s revenue drive. We are aware that whatever we do today will become history tomorrow, so when tomorrow comes, and history beckons we would be satisfied that we left a relevant mark in the sands of time.”