Property and landowners in Edo State have been advised to obtain certificates of occupancy (C of O) so that these assets will be legal.
This advice was given by the Managing Director of Edo State Geographic Information Service, (EdoGIS) Dr. Tony Ikpasaja who disclosed that the state government had between February and April 17, 2025, registered over 9,000 Certificates of Occupancy.
In an interaction with the Executive of the Correspondents’ Chapel of Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) who paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Benin City at the weekend, Ikpasaja assured that within the next few weeks or months, his office would clear the 7,500 pending applications it inherited from the immediate past Godwin Obaseki’s administration.
He said the files belonged to applicants who wanted their land to be registered and captured in the EdoGIS database but regrettably, they were not attended to.
According to Ikpasaja who was appointed by Governor Okpebholo in January 2025, the feat in signing over 9,000 certificates of occupancy was achieved despite the challenges of shutting down the agency’s system by the consultant employed by Obaseki to run the operations of the agency, and with the new software as against 1,000 recorded by the previous government between 2023 and February 2025.
He disclosed that the agency had recently purchased more sophisticated equipment to improve its productivity and to ensure that applicants’ applications were attended to as quickly as possible.
Ikpasaja, who assured applicants that their files for Certificates of Occupancy would be treated and captured into the database, cautioned that any landed property without a Certificate of Occupancy is not a legal asset.
He said, “As of today, I can boldly tell you that we have captured and processed over 9000 files of certificate of Occupancy. We have also been signing and issuing out Certificates of Occupancy.
“Over 9000 certificates of occupancy have been registered from February 2025 to date with the new software against 1000 registered from 2023 to February 2025.
“When I came on board, I met about 7500 total files of applicants that were not attended to. It is disheartening that people will pay for registration will just leave the files there unattended.
“Within the next few weeks or months, we will clear the applications we have, and we will give Nigerians and Edo people their Certificates of Occupancy.
“I also want to assure those that have applied that as far as their certificate is here and being processed, your land is secure because, by our system, nobody can come and process that particular land again.
“The kind of restructuring we did was a total departure from what it used to be before or met on the ground because the staff are operating on international best practices.
“What we have now today does not give you room to keep files because we are working accordingly to the World Bank standards which is the international best practices”.
Dr. ikpasaja said to ensure that all landed property owners were carried along in the administration of land in the state, the agency opened offices in Auchi and Ekpoma in Edo North and Central senatorial districts respectively. He said the development was to ensure that Edo GIS’ operations were brought to the grassroots.