By Jude Michael
Soon, investors in lands in Anambra State will have no cause to fall prey to unscrupulous elements who usually dupe them of millions of Naira in the name of acquiring a certificate of occupancy, as the State Ministry of Lands is making a concerted effort to ensure that before the end of the year, everything about lands administration in the state will be done online through the Ministry’s Global Information System, GIS.
The State Commissioner for Lands, Prof Offorkanze Amucheazi, disclosed this while reacting to claims making the rounds that the acquisition of certificate of occupancy and forms for application of the certificate, in the state, cost millions of Naira, and 200 thousand Naira respectively, resulting in exodus of lands investors, from the state to the neighbouring states of Delta and Enugu.
The Commissioner, who described the rumour as untrue, said the idea of the GIS was to computerize Anambra’s lands administration system, adding that the application forms for land, which, he said, was five thousand Naira, would be free and easily accessible from anywhere around the world when the computerization was completed before the end of this year.
Prof Amucheazi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, explained that some of the rates the Ministry currently used for the Certificate of Occupancy were there since the Regimes of Peter Obi and Willie Obiano.
The Lands Commissioner, who stated that there were different rates; the one called Private C of O, and the one called Government C of O; as well as different layouts with a different rate applicable to each layout, explained that for private C of O, one could pay 540 thousand Naira per plot.
‘Of course. If your plots are more, you actually pay more,’ Amucheazi said.
He described the Anambra’s Lands Ministry under the Chukwuma Soludo Administration as a new one with a solution and a different agenda for effective and efficient lands administration system in the state.
Saying that the Ministry ran an open-door policy, Amucheazi enjoined the public to feel free to come to the Ministry with any complaint.
He also advised lands investors to search and get official search report before making a purchase of land belonging to government to avoid being duped by unscrupulous elements.
