Delta  Lands Ministry Generates N3Billion In Three Years, Targets N4Billion In 2018

Over three billion naira was generated by the Delta State Ministry of Lands and Survey from 2015 to 2017.
The State Commissioner in charge of the Ministry, Mr Chika Ossai, disclosed this when he took his turn today at the ongoing ministerial press briefing to present the activities and achievements of his Ministry, held at the Conference Hall of the Ministry of Information, Asaba.
Mr Ossai who noted in his brief that there had been a steady increase in the generation of revenue from May 2015 when the present administration of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa came on board, revealed that the N294. 2 Million was generated in 2015.
According to the Commissioner, there was a significant increase in 2016 as the sum of N1, 058. 9 Billion was realized, saying that the performance was improved upon in 2017 with the sum of N1, 773. 1 Billion generated, attributing the efforts to the activities of Fast Track 90, an organ of the Ministry.
Obviously upbeat by the brilliant performance from 2015 to 2017, the Lands and Survey Commissioner announced that his Ministry has targeted the sum of N4 Billion to be generated in 2018, saying some innovations had been introduced to facilitate the work of the Ministry.
Mr Ossai listed the innovations to include establishment of an ICT Centre, migration of all existing applications (C of O) to a new electronic platform, digitization of existing C of O and introduction of electronic consent letter with security features.
Others, according to Mr Ossai, were the introduction of electronic C of O with security features, regularization of government illegal occupied lands and establishment of a ground rent task force and state committee on ground rent.
He stated that some of the achievements of his Ministry included computerization and digitalization of the Board’s studio for plan drawing with state of the art equipments, demolition of illegal structures within Asaba Capital City and its environs, opening of obstructed roads as well as redesigning of layouts to control flood in Asaba Capital Territory and making sure that developers conform to development plans and control through the strict and thorough scrutiny of approval of building plans.
Some of the challenges facing the Ministry, he said were the Delta State Urban and Regional Planning Board Law that had created conflict of interest between staff of the Ministry and Local Planning Authorities operated by Local Government Councils, inability to pay outstanding compensation for lands acquired by the State Government as at when due and rent on hired properties as at when due.
According to him, other bottlenecks were lack of adequate number of Field Workers, vehicles for constant and effective monitoring, essential equipment for effective performance of assigned mandate and availability of land for allocation and inadequate documentation by applicants.
He added that non-payment of ground rent resulting to uncollected C of O and adjustment of applicants from manual to electronically processed C of O was also a challenge.

By John Onos

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