The Edo state government has adminished residents and investors to key into its land administration policy for easy data and management.
It said land Certificate of Occupancy (C-of-O) was a necessary step towards land and property ownership in the State.
The Managing Director of Edo State Geographic Information Service (EdoGIS), Dr. Tony Ikpasaja, disclosed this when the executive of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Edo state council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Benin City.
Ikpasaja noted that any land that is without a Certificate of Occupancy is not a legal asset, adding, “As I speak, we have captured and processed over 9000 applications for C-of-Os.
“We have also been signing and issuing out Certificates of Occupancy,” he stated.
The MD disclosed that the agency under his leadership is currently working on over 7500 C-of-O applications which it inherited from the immediate past administration and assured that the documents would be ready for collection soon.
He stated that the Senator Monday Okpebholo-led Edo State government has registered over 9000 Certificates of Occupancy between February and April 17, 2025.
Ikpasaja said the feat was achieved with the new software deployed by the administration which according to him, surpassed the 1000 recorded between 2023 and February 2025 during the immediate past Godwin Obaseki administration.
He disclosed that the agency has recently purchased more sophisticated equipment to improve its productivity and to ensure that applicants’ applications are attended to as quickly as possible.
Earlier, the chairman of the Correspondents’ Chapel, Patrick Ochoga, discribed EdoGIS as a critical sector in land administration in the state.
He pledged that the chapel would support it to deepen its activities through well-balanced reportage.