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The Edo State Government said it registered over 9,000 Certificates of Occupancy between February and April 17, 2025.
The Managing Director of Edo State Geographic Information Service, Dr Tony Ikpasaja, disclosed this when journalists paid him a courtesy visit on Easter Sunday.
Ikpasaja said the feat was achieved despite the challenges of shutting down the agency’s digital system by the employees of the immediate past Government of Godwin Obaseki to run the agency’s operations.
The EdoGis boss, who Governor Okpebholo appointed in January 2025, said the feat was achieved within the period with the new software, as against 1000 recorded by the immediate past government between 2023 and February 2025.
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.
He also disclosed that the agency under his leadership inherited over 7500 files that were not attended to. He said the files belong to applicants who want their land registered and captured in the EdoGis database.
Ikpasaja, who assured applicants that their files for Certificates of Occupancy would be treated and captured into the database, advised property and land owners to legalise their property.
He noted that any landed property that is 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 Certificates of Occupancy.
“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 and 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 who have applied that as far as their certificate is concerned, it 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 what we 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,” he said.
