The Lagos State Government yesterday disclosed its resolve to prosecute any identified land grabber while assuring all investors of the safety of their landed property in the state.

The state governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, disclosed this at the state’s Land Registry he unveiled in Alausa alongside his Special Adviser on Urban Development, Mrs. Yetunde Onabule and Permanent Secretary of Lagos Lands Bureau, Mr. Olabode, among others.

Before unveiling the registry, Ambode said deliberate massive reforms “have been put in place in the sector to reposition land administration for efficiency and enhance the ease of doing business.    

“When his administration came on board, one of the major challenges hampering the ease of doing business was the bottleneck in land administration. Immediate steps were taken to reform the sector, especially through the deployment of cutting-edge technology to drive efficiency in the land registry, administration, and management system.”

He described the new land registry as another major step towards the ideal situation in land administration, which he said, would unleash private enterprise as land is a very vital asset with which the people could access capital and thereby increase economic activities.

He added that the initiative was also aimed at “improving the ease of doing business in the state. This new registry is equipped with a Thomson Reuters suite of technology modules designed to conduct a rapid inventory of actual/existing land rights, automate and manage land records and ensure integration of geographic data.

“This solution also comes with the online consummation of all levels of services rendered by the Lands Bureau. With this new registry, we will streamline the process of registering the title and remove the bottlenecks previously associated with the process. The redesigned layout of the registry makes it more service friendly to all who have land transactions to process.”

He said the idea was “to create a One–Stop Shop where the Office of the State Surveyor General, Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development and the Lands Bureau are located within the same complex, to fast-track processing of land titles.”   

 With the new arrangement, he said the state government would achieve a combined effect of making the process of securing the land title and also engender the highest level of security and integrity of title document.

He pledged to continue to fine-tune the processes of land administration to meet changing times and yield positive dividends for the people, noting that his administration was determined to stamp out the issue of land grabbing from the state once and for all.

He said: “We will arrest and prosecute any identified land grabber. We assure all our investors of the safety of their property and urge you to take advantage of our Task Force on Land Grabbing if you encounter any challenges.

“Our government is deliberate and strategic; our policy thrust is built on a tripod of security, infrastructure, and job creation. We are working constantly to provide security for our residents and investors. We have invested massively on infrastructure especially road infrastructure to open up new areas, increase the value of land and give our people access to their property.

“With the land administration reforms, entrepreneurs and individuals will now be able to register their titles faster and have access to capital. This will, in turn, create opportunities for jobs and also wealth creation.” 

(This Day)