The Federal Goverment of Nigeria through the Ministry of Works and Housing has unveiled the Business Process Automation of Certificate of Occupancy (e-CofO) for its Lands which is the introduction of digital platform to hasting the readiness lands title documents.
Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola SAN who commissioned the digital platform in Abuja on Friday, assured Nigerians that the Federal Goverment land title certificates will now be ready within 24 hours.
He said the automation was to improve efficiency in the registration and capture of all landed property, adding that this initiative is another layer and level of technological advancement in the country.
Fashola explained that the manual processing of application for and signing of C.of.O which used to be cumbersome and timeconsuming would stop with the introduction of the digital platform, there by ending the era of carrying several bags of files of C of O for manual endorsement at home.
The Minister said further that this highly generated secure certification of occupancy documents will be printed by the Nigerian security printing and minting to eliminate forgery and all interested applicants can begin the process through https://lands.worksandhousing.gov.ng/.
He revealed that about 2,276 files have been digitalized. “Our digital platform is meant to make life better, the thing that used to take three months will now be available in 24 hours.
“I, as the head of the Ministry, will stop carrying Ghana most go filled with C of Os from Abuja to Lagos or my house, I can now sign many of them on the system within some hours. I think that’s where Nigeria as the biggest black Nation should be”, he said.
Fashola who recalled how he met the land title applications as dated back 1992 upon his resumption, stressed that the new process is part of the Government’s commitment to reduce poverty and influence prosperity.
“Some of the things I wanted to share are the arrears of C of O that I had the opportunity to process when the president finally delegated the authority to the ministry.
“Some of the documents date back to 1992. so somebody has been waiting for years to get a C of O and it will interest you that I signed about 6,685 of them during my tenure”.
He urged the staff of the Works and Housing Ministry to embrace the new change and work judiciously for the benefit of Nigerians, saying “old habits never die”.
Earlier, in his remarks the Director Overseeing Office of the Permanent Secretary, Engr. Folorunso Esan said that the project was awarded on February 17, 2022 and commended the Ministry for the successful implementation of the initiative.
He added that the project will allow the easy collection and update of the ground rent and other fees, and also allow lesser turnaround times for processing all land and property applications leading to increased confidence in the general public.
Engr Esan noted furher that this digital platform will boost public consumption and also enable easy payments. “The Ministry successfully integrated with TSA-Remita and FIRS platforms for seamless payment of land charges and stamp duty respectively.
Also, the current C.of.O document has been revised to make it less cumbersome and in conformity with acceptable global standards”, he said.
Also speaking, Director, Lands and Housing Development, Felix Appah, said that the process will enthrone transparency in the activities of land certification and ownership which will greatly serve as legal collateral to such land owners in accessing loans.
He stressed further that the digitalisation of land titles is borne out of the commitment to transcend analogue processes in line with global best practices. “Embracing this new development of automation process of issuing C of O will reduce the time frame from an average of 90 days using the manual method to a 24-hour period (1 day)”.