…As Ministry Moves to Digitalize Land Administration
By Brenda Chidinma Imo-Eze
The Ebonyi State Commissioner for Lands and Survey, Dr. Matthew Edeagu Nwobasi, has identified land encroachment and illegal land grabbing as the biggest challenges confronting the ministry, even as plans are underway to fully digitalize land administration across the state.
Speaking during an interview, Dr. Nwobasi said the digitalization process would help put a complete stop to land-related disputes and encroachments when completed.
“Land grabbing and encroachment into government properties, this is one of our major problems. I have resolved such cases according to their merits, but in order to get a total full stop to it, the ministry is transiting to full digitalization. If we succeed in doing this, the issue of land encroachment and land grabbing will be things of the past,” he said.
Explaining the scope of the initiative, he added:
“What do I mean by full digitalization? It is a system where all the lands in Ebonyi State will be mapped. Even if you are doing land searching, you don’t need to come to the ministry to search. You do this at the comfort of your room, even with your Android phone or laptop. You can research and find a particular land in question in real time, including the activities happening in that land.
“If there is a land that is encroached on each other on their site, it will signal on their system. You don’t need a land surveyor or anybody to tell you that this is the land I’m looking for, or that this land is encroached. So this is what we have to put in place to solve such problems.”
The Commissioner said the process was already at an advanced stage, noting that the project would be capital-intensive.
“The contract for that is going to be capital intensive, but I’m proud to announce to you that His Excellency, the governor, has approved that we should go on and do it. It’s going to cost not millions, but billions of naira. But he has the courage to ask me to engage the people that will do it, and we are in the process. The digitalization process will take up to 12 to 18 months,” he stated.
Dr. Nwobasi also reflected on other achievements under his leadership, including the revival of the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) process that had long been inactive.
“In fact, when we came on board, it was completely down. The ministry was not creating C of O. This case, we presented before His Excellency, the governor, which he graciously approved money for us, and we revived that sector. Today, we are printing C of O with ease, continuously since then, without iota of problems. So I always count it as one of my major successes in this ministry,” he said.
He added that the governor’s decision to delegate the signing of C of O to him has significantly reduced delays.
“If it is government allocation, it will only take you two weeks — 14 working days — for you to get your C of O on application. If it is private land, highest three weeks. This is a very big innovation since we came on board, thereby making things easy for people.”
Dr. Nwobasi further disclosed plans to establish Town Planning Authorities in each of the three senatorial zones of the state to promote even urban development.
“We are going to establish in each senatorial zone a town planning authority so that the issue of urbanization cannot be concentrated in Abakaliki. There is need to develop all parts of the state, and in doing so, we have to strategize on how we are going to do it,” he concluded.
He described the forthcoming digitalization project as a landmark step that would redefine land management in Ebonyi State, strengthen revenue generation, and end disputes arising from multiple claims of ownership.