Kano Commissioner of Land and Physical planning, Alhaji Umar

By Maduabuchi Nmeribeh/Kano

Kano state government has extended the rectification exercise of Certificate of Occupancy (CoOs) of all landed property in the state to 60 days to enable land owners to rectify their property.

The State Commissioner of Land and Physical Planning, Alhaji Abduljabba M. Umar, told journalists on Tuesday that the extension was to enable those who had yet to recertify their titles to do so within the extended window of time.

According to him, the extension has provided the opportunity for more owners of the previous Certificate of Occupancy to submit them for collection of the new, updated and technologically advanced ones.

” You may equally recall that the 1 of April, 2025, fell on the most recent public holiday of the Eid festivities. Therefore, in the spirit of Ramadan, the present announcement was suspended.

“On another hand, I am delighted to mention that, since the flag off of the recertification exercise by His Excellency the Executive Governor of Kano State, Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf on 25 November, 2024, remarkable achievements were achieved, which included the successful enumeration of all land properties within Nassarawa and Fagge Local Government Areas, as well as continuous enumeration of properties across Tarauni, Data, Kano Municipal, and Gwale LGA’s.

‘I must commend the unconditional support of critical stakeholders especially, the Kano Emirate Council, Local Government Heads, as well as Community leaders across the named LGAs whose unwavering commitment ensured the success of the exercise, So far, 241,025 properties across 6 metropolitan LGAs have been captured in our database since the beginning of the exercise,” he said.

Umar further stated that Land Property Enumeration Exercise, has the objective of providing a solid foundation for building an accurate, extensive and up-to date database of: Who resides in Kano State; who owns land which properties in Kano State; specific utilisation of each land related property across the State (Home, School Filling Station, etc).

He hinted that: “projected annual revenue from land-related properties (Ground rents, etc); available land-related infrastructure across the State; required Social infrastructure for different locations across the State; approximate land-related Tax revenue projections across the State, etc.

“However, despite the positive effort being made through multiple chances of sensitizing the public as well as an extension of time limit, it is quite unfortunate that many have decided to be lackadaisical and aloof to all forms of entreaties to safeguard their land assets by recertifying them, unfortunately, this attitude can make them vulnerable to complete loss of their land asset through revocation under section 28(5) of the land use Act 1978.

“It  is also imperative for the public to note the considerate disposition of the government in making the process affordable and cheap, by fixing the recertification fee at only N10,000 (Ten Thousand Naira Only), with the exception of statutory outstanding debts.”

In this spirit, I wish to inform you that the names of defaulters shall be published across National dailies from tomorrow, for their notice and necessary action.

“The names shall be published in the newspapers and selected Government outlets, which shall include, The Kano State Library, Audu Bako Secretariat, Gidan Murtala and the Kano State High Court, amongst other places. These individuals are enjoined to come forward and take necessary actions in order to avoid revocation of their land titles.

“The Customer Service Centre of KANGIS shall also continue to optimize their services to meet the recertification traffic to ensure prompt service at all times (both online via our website, physically at our offices and even on the phone).

“Let me reiterate that the recertification process continues unperturbed, and strongly encourage everyone to hurry and recertify their title documents or process the new title document before the deadline of 30 May 2025, to avoid any unpleasant experience.

“At this juncture, it is vital to mention the tremendous effort being made to ensure smooth take-off of Sectional Titling in the State, which will ease the ownership of businesses in conglomerates as well as in Housing estates, Plazas, Blocks of Flats and Markets.

“I wish to extend our gratitude to His Excellency Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf, the Executive Governor of Kano State, for the tremendous support and inspiration to enable us to accomplish our goals to have gone this far.”