Kaduna govt begins issuance of digital C of O
//Godwin Ekosin, Kaduna, N/w Nigeria//
As part of efforts to remove bottlenecks associated with issuance of Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) in Kaduna, the State government on Thursday issued digital C of O to land owners who registered with the Kaduna Geographic Information Service (KADGIS), an indication of seriousness in government for the first time.
However, it was not clear whether there is annual rentals on the digital C of O as authority has been silence on that over time.
Deputy Governor of the State, Architect Bala Bantex who presented the document to beneficiaries recalled that, it used to take a longer period of time and huge sum of money to obtain land document such as C of O which the new approach has override.
He then urged all land owners in the State to endeavor to obtain C of O of their lands; noting that with such document, the value of their lands will increase while it could also be used as collateral to access loans in financial institutions.
In his remark, the Director General of KADGIS, Alhaji Ibrahim Hussaini said, “In the last 100 years in Kaduna State, we have been issuing manual certificates which were subject to many abuses including fraudulent activities but the coming of Governor El-Rufai has led to the appointment of contractors and consultants, GIS Transport which saw the staff of KADGIS through the verifying of land processes in the State,”
“Through the property registration programme, it takes 30days to get the new digital certificate. We also have the recertification of old certificates programme which also takes 30days.
“All settlements around Kaduna who do not have any form of certificate are being registered and given certificate at the rate of N5,000”.