By Jethro Ibileke
The Managing Director of Edo State Geographic Information Service (EdoGIS), Dr Tony Ikpasaja, has disclosed how the Consultant employed by former Governor Godwin Obaseki, attempted to cripple the issuance of Certificates of Occupancy (C of O), to residents seeking them by shutting down the Agency’s system.
Ikpasaja disclosed this weekend when Executive of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Edo State Council of the Nigeria of Journalists (NUJ), paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Benin City.
He disclosed that over 9,000 certificates of occupancy were registered by the current administration of Governor Monday Okpebholo between February and April 17, 2025, as against the 1000 certificates of occupancy issued by the immediate past government between 2023 and February 2025.
The EdoGIS boss said the agency has recently purchased more sophisticated equipment to improve its productivity and to ensure that applicants’ applications are attended to as quickly as possible.
He further disclosed that the Agency under his leadership inherited over 7,500 files of applicants who want their land to be registered and captured in the EdoGis database unattended to by the previous administration.
“As of today, I can boldly tell you that we have captured and processed over 9,000 files of Certificates of Occupancy. We have also been signing and issuing out Certificates of Occupancy.
“Over 9,000 certificate of occupancy have been registered from February 2025 to date with the new software against 1000 registered from 2023 to February 2025.
“When I came on board I met about 7,500 total files of applicants that were not attended to. It is disheartening that people will pay for registration will just leave the files there unattended,” he said.
Ikpasaja however assured applicants that their files for Certificates of Occupancy would henceforth be treated and captured into the database.
He, therefore advised property and land owners to legalize their property, noting that any landed property that is without a Certificate of Occupancy is not a legal asset.
“Within the next few weeks or months, we will clear the applications we have, and we will give Nigerians and Edo people their Certificates of Occupancy.
“I also want to assure those that have applied that as far as their certificate is here and being processed, your land is secure because, by our system, nobody can come and process that particular land again.
“The kind of restructuring we did was a total departure from what it used to be before or met on the ground because the staff are operating on international best practices.
“What we have now today does not give you room to keep files because we are working accordingly to the World Bank standards which is the international best practices,” he said.
To ensure that all landed property owners are carried along in the administration of land in the State and to ensure that the operations were brought to the grassroots, Ikpasaja disclosed that the Agency has opened offices in Auchi and Ekpoma.