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| Mrs. Akon, Honourable Minister for Lands and Urban Development |
Raji Adebayo
Estate
developers in Lagos State who bought federal government lands have cried out
for help in obtaining their Certificate of Occupancy, two years after the
documentation and payment of their necessary fees.
Eke Philips,
one of the developers who has been going through pains travelling from Lagos
State to Abuja, for the C/O of a piece of property he acquired through the
Ministry of Lands, Surveys and Urban Development, Abuja said the process is
becoming frustrating, especially when the Minister, Mrs. Akon Eyakenyi was
doing nothing to alleviate their suffering.
“Actually it
is about the c/o, I have processed for two years now, when I started, I was
directed to the Glass House at the Lagos State at Tafawa Balewa, they are in
charge of the federal housing. After documentation there, our files were taken
to Abuja office of the Minister for signing and issuance of the c/o document. I
was giving information that our files are at the Minister’s office and I need
this document seriously,” he stated. “Some people’s c/o have been signed and
those ones are from Akwa Ibom State, the Minister is from Akwa Ibom. We have
tried to see if she could sign it but she hasn’t signed it. She has trapped
some people’s file there for two years, and these developers need this document
to process their businesses.”
It was
gathered that the Lagos State department of the Ministry has finalised their
own documentation and has forwarded it to Abuja for signing and collection but
nothing is happening.
“We learnt
that the Minister has issued one federal government agency that has property
there their own c/o but the individual ones have been denied of their C of O because
we don’t have somebody to speak for us and that is why our own is being delayed
for two years now. The Permanent Secretary, to the Minister who was very
effective was changed because that one doesn’t delay in exercising his duties,
because he doesn’t want that one to implicate her, and she redeployed him to
another department”.
The process
for obtaining the C/O of the property said to be on Aburo Hilltop Iyana Ipaja
area of Lagos State and its environs, started two years ago and after
completing the forms and payments for the legal instrument, the Minister is yet
to issue the documents to the developers, leading to fears being expressed by
them, as whether they have been duped.
Certificate
of Occupancy is an instrument prepared at the Land Registry, signed by the
Minister, the Governor, in the case of any state of the Federation, registered
in the Land Registry and given to the holder of a Right of Occupancy in
evidence of a grant.
The Land Use
Act made provision for the issuance of a C of O over every grant. A Certificate
of Occupancy is the key document used to certify the legal use and occupancy of
a building.
The
Certificate describes how a building may be occupied, for example, a two-family
home, a parking lot, a 40-unit multiple dwelling, or a store. A Certificate of
Occupancy is often required when selling a home or refinancing a mortgage.
Owners must
obtain a new or amended Certificate of Occupancy for new buildings or where
construction changes the use, or occupancy to an existing building before the
building may be legally occupied.
The
Certificate of Occupancy are issued after all paper-work are completed, and all
necessary approvals have been obtained from other appropriate City agencies,
all fees owed to the Department are paid, and all relevant violations are
resolved.
All these
steps have been taking by group of land developers in Lagos State who bought
lands from the Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Developments for past two
years, yet the ministry has withhold their C/O without any reasons given to
them.
It would be
recalled that presently the Minister for Lands, Surveys and Urban Development officially
declared that the new C OF O fee on land in Abuja has gone up by 900% from
N2000/m2 to N18, 000 to N2million, which experts have described as outrageous.
Those who have applied for C OF O land in the federal properties in Lagos State
are crying for their C/Os
After get their
survey plan, the land information from the surveyor general's office and their lawyers
getting it for them which cost money, their C of Os are yet to be released for them.
The developers said they have submitted their
files in the Minister’s office in Abuja which contained their structural drawing
or architectural design.
According to
the developers, who wouldn’t want their names mentioned for fear of
victimization, said their passport photographs, tax receipts and tax clearance
certificates are in their files with their C/O registration after paying to the land registry to cover the tax
clearance certificate.
Newswatch
Times gathered that the developers’ lawyers have paid their legal fees but two
years after the documentation of their files with the Minister they are still
waiting the minister’s consent
It was
learnt that on completion of legal fees, it takes 40 days for issuance of C/O
but under the present Minister, procuring the minister's consent for issuance
of C/O is now two years .
A source
stated that there are requirements that must be filed after calculating the Minister’s
consent which includes dated letter of application with addresses and telephone
number usually done by a lawyer, completed Form 1c usually done by a lawyer on
behalf of the owner of the land, certified true copy of the grantors title
document. Others are grantee's tax clearance certificate/ development levy,
four copies of the Deed of Assignment, survey plans, evidence of payment for
charting, endorsement and form, evidence of payment of ground rent /Land use
charge and building plan and photography of the property.
It would be
recalled that the minister pointed out, that in the last four years N8.1b has
been realised by her ministry from tender fees, ground rents, premium on lands,
title registration fees, consent fees, Certificate of Occupancy(C of O),
processing fees and survey fees.
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