Uche Anichukwu
Chief Damian Okeke (not real name), a Lagos-based indigene of Enugu State, who retired from the federal civil service, had a good retirement plan. Or so he thought. He invested virtually all his savings in a good plot of land in Enugu city, where he intended to build a block of commercial apartments. However, trouble began when he began to process the land documents and obtain a building approval from the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority, ECTDA. It emerged that the same people, who sold the land to him, had sold it to two other persons. He has been entangled in court processes to recover his money or property.
Unfortunately, his is only one of the many sad tales of many Nigerians and investors nationwide who have suffered unkind fates in the hands of land grabbers and corrupt public officers. From multiple salesl/allocation of a single property to different individuals/entities to prevalence of forged/fake title documents, among others, stories that touch the heart abound of hardworking and responsible Nigerians, who have been scammed in their quest to own property or fraudulently dispossessed of their land or property by landgrabbers aided and abetted by corrupt officials.
For instance, speaking at a stakeholders’ forum organised by the Lagos State Lands Bureau in 2021 to sensitise the people against fraudulent land transactions perpetrated by land grabbers, better known as ‘Omonile’, the Permanent Secretary of the Bureau at the time, Mr. Bode Agoro, lamented that “these land grabbers/Omonile have now taken their game to a new level, as they have the audacity to erect signposts bearing Lagos State Government logo and excision application file numbers in their desperate attempt to deceive prospective buyers into believing that sales of such lands are genuine transactions and have government backing.”
Recently, the Secretary to Government of Enugu State, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, had during an inspection of ongoing massive work at the New Enugu City being undertaken by the Mbah administration, also had reasons to warn prospective land buyers in Enugu State to do their due diligence. Even while it is a clear knowledge that Enugu State Government had since the Sullivan Chime Administration begun the acquisition of the area now being developed by the Mbah administration and also gazetted the same, land grabbers did not stop scamming their unsuspecting victims. In fact, some people claimed they were sold parcels of land there in January this year, even when Governor Mbah flagged off the construction of New Enugu City in October last year. That is how daring land fraudsters can be.
Unfortunately, this national menace has far-reaching negative impacts and implications. It results in financial losses, and in the cases where such funds are bank loans, they plunge the victim into the debt trap. Land frauds, in whatever form they manifest, erode investor confidence and sabotage economic growth. Most times, victims have no choice than to embark on litigation. In fact, land grabbers have become so daring that they would often dare their victims to go to court, knowing that the justice system is time-consuming, strenuous, and windy. They equally know that they have members of their syndicates entrenched in various government arms, organs, and agencies, from the land registries and ministries to as far as the judiciary, including the probate registries.
*GIS to the rescue*
Unfortunately, this syndrome has continued, not for the lack of the availability of technology to crackdown on the menace, but for lack of the political will to invoke or instate the requisite laws and technology. It is a known fact that Geographical Information Systems (GIS) is one of the most effective ways of checkmating land-related frauds.
In June 2021, Head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s South East Zonal Office, Enugu, Oshodi Johnson, was pointblank when he received the Commissioner for Lands in Enugu State at the time, Victor Nnam. He said: “GIS will make it easier to certify the true owners of properties, verify the current ownership, or identify the exact location of land in event of doubt or scam,” adding “Enugu state government should consider asking that all land in Enugu be recertified and re-registered as have been done in other states; this process will not only make the commission’s duties easier, it will also make it easier for the ministry to identify land since links will be created and developed between textual data (land and legal registrations) and parcels of land. In fact, it will also be a great means of generating internal revenue for the state.” He could not have put it better.
Indeed, besides reducing falsification of land documents and double allocations, GIS speeds up response to property registration and inquiry, improves property security, rationalises land administration processes, boosts infrastructural development or improvement, boosts property related revenue generation, ensures physical reorganisation of land documents, among others.
*The Mbah Land Reforms*
Candidate Peter Mbah, as he then was, had while unveiling his statement of purpose or manifesto ahead of the 2023 governorship election, expressed a vision to grow the state’s economy from $4.4bn to $30bn through private sector investment and to position it as the preferred destination for business, investment, tourism, and for living. Given the critical place of land to investment and economic growth, it was not surprising that he vowed to break the cycle of land frauds and delays/bottlenecks associated with land registration by introducing GIS and automating land services.
On page 25 of his manifesto, Mbah states: “In the area of land, we shall continue the land reforms process and fully deploy the GIS and automation of land administration.”
In line with this promise, Governor Peter Mbah had, immediately upon his inauguration, embarked on a robust automation of all the government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), starting with the Ministry of Lands and Urban Development, as part of enhancing Enugu’s ease of doing business ranking and to ensure that individuals and investors are able to process Certificate of Occupancy (C-of-O) within 72 hours.
It was also in line with this determination that the governor initiated the Enugu State Geographical Information Systems Service Bill, which he recently signed into law after it was passed by the Enugu State House of Assembly.
Speaking during the signing witnessed by the Speaker of the State Assembly, Hon. Uchenna Ugwu, Mbah affirmed that the Enugu State Geographical Information System Service Law was in line with the administration’s campaign promise to automate governance process, starting with simplification, digitilisation, and sanitisation of land administration and services in the state.
Governor Mbah, in his speech, also said,“You recall during our campaigns, we promised that we were going to ensure that you commence and complete the processing of your Ccertificates of Occupancy within 72 hours. So, what we have done here today is to up set an agency that manages this information, such as our property information system, our survey and land information systems, and a whole lot of other information systems.
“With the signing of this law, our institutions are further strengthened, as you can now access all these services on a digital platform. You can also start and complete your payment in the portal provided. Recall that we have said that we are going to mobilise our domestic revenue and enhance the quality of services that we provide within the civil service space. So, what we have done here today is setting up the legal framework that allows us to go ahead to implement that part of our manifesto.”
The governor was right, as there are more benefits that GIS has to offer beyond just land administration. The GIS technology has transformed the understanding and analysis of the world, providing a veritable platform for the storage, management, and analysis of geospatial data to be able to make informed decisions in a good number of fields. Be it natural resources management, demographic planning, climate data, urban planning, etc.GIS is a reliable tool for distilling and solving complex issues. It helps in the understanding and visualisation of geospatial data, optimal planning and decision-making, better emergency response and disaster management, better business and marketing operations, and better environmental management.
It is against this backdrop that the Enugu State Geographical Information Service (GIS) Law has been received with a huge sigh of relief by the people of Enugu and investors, who can now transact with confidence, knowing that the days of land frauds now belong to the past. Enugu is now ready and repositioned for investment.
.Anichukwu writes from Enugu