Momoh Umar Momoh, Benin
The Management of the Edo State Geographic Information Service (EdoGIS) has assured land owners who applied for the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) that they would soon get their certificate.
The Managing Director of the agency, Dr Tony Ikpasaja gave the assurance while hosting the executive of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) for Easter celebration in Benin City.
Ikpasaja who said his administration inherited over 7500 untreated applicants’ files from the past government of Governor Godwin Obaseki, specifically assured the applicants that their certificate would soon be ready for collection.
He said, in less than two months in office, his administration has registered and captured over 9000 certificates of occupancy that have already for collection.
He said the feat was achieved by a new software deployed by the management.
He said the over 9000 registered certificate was a far cry as against 1000 recorded by the immediate past government of Godwin Obaseki between 2023 and February 2025.
“Over 7500 files were left uploaded and not treated. These are files of applicants who want their lands to be registered and captured in the EdoGis database.
“So in the process of trying to bring back the system we now have to go back to the backlog of things. We were rebuilding gradually. At the moment I can tell you that we have reached a very comfortable point.
” It was like they just left the files idle there. About 7500 total files of applicants were all left and not attended to. Citizens will pay for registration they will just leave the files there unattended to. Maybe they only attended to those that they have interest in.
“For the 7500 applications we are processing them and almost done with it. They are the backlog that we inherited from the past government. We are also working on the applications alongside the 9000 files.
“From 2023 to 2024, we only counted that the previous administration only gives out about 1000 certificates of occupancy while within one month we captured over 9000 applications.
The EdoGIS boss, however, recounted how on assumption of office as the new Managing Director of the agency, the consultants that were overseen the operation of the establishment, shutdown the entire system thereby making them lose applicants phone contacts and among others.
He said with the new technological equipment recently bought by the management including the new software installed, all the contacts have been retrieved.
“Under this present administration we acquired new equipment recently, decommissioned the old ones because they are not useful to today’s works. We acquired new equipment that is of a higher level to improve productivity, our staff are fully on ground, highly engaged and they are very happy.
“I want to use this opportunity to inform you and the people in the State that we have been giving out Certificates of Occupancy and also be producing.
“Those that have applied and have not gotten their certificate, we appeal to them to exercise a little patience, we assured them that they will get their Certificate. We are going about it as people apply.
“When those consultants left and shut down our system we lost the contacts of applicants. We can’t reach them nor can they reach us. But now that has been ratified. We now have active phone lines which we have started communicating with people. We will soon make the lines available to members of the public.
“In terms of technology, the structure of the data that we met on ground was not what we expected and were not professionally done and so we have to do a lot of restructuring to manage the data and be able to use it to build the new system.
“They tried to delete as much data as they could to ensure that we couldn’t survive on our own without calling them back. So by the grace of God we recovered all that data and were able to set them back to the system and continue.
“We continue from exactly where we were. So, people should not be afraid, their information was not lost and we assure them that they will all receive their Certificate.
“All that has applied we are processing them and in no distant time we will be able to get them out”, he added.
Earlier, Patrick Ochoga, the chairman of the Correspondents’ Chapel, said the visit was to congratulate the managing director of the agency on his well deserved appointment.
Ochoga, who said the agency is a critical sector in land administration in the state noted that the chapel has no doubt that under the leadership of the new Managing Director, it would surpass the achievements of the previous government.
He said the visit was also to discuss ways for mutual cooperation and partnership geared towards the promotion of the agency through well-balanced reportage.
