AGIS and slow pace of C-of-Os issuance

The importance of  Geographic Information System (GIS) in lands monitoring and allocation is very important and as such one is not surprised to see Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) setting up the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) for an effective and efficient land administration. Before now,  manual record-keeping has been in use by land related […]

The importance of  Geographic Information System (GIS) in lands monitoring and allocation is very important and as such one is not surprised to see Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) setting up the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) for an effective and efficient land administration.
Before now,  manual record-keeping has been in use by land related departments of the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory (MFCT) and the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) since the inception of the Federal Capital Territory almost 30 years ago.
The city and its surrounding have been expanding rapidly beyond projections. With this rapid expansion, manual record-keeping became inefficient, time-consuming and prone to abuses.
Besides, several unsuccessful attempts were made in the past to solve the problems but failed due to under estimation of the gravity of the problems and the ill-defined scope of the project. The primary reason that has hindered the computerisation of the cadastral and land registry records in the past is lack of a strong political will on the part of the authorities. 
President Olusegun Obasanjo shortly after assuming office in 1999, directed the computerisation of all land operations at the federal level. Obasanjo said that the decision is informed by society’s changing priorities, globalization and information technology revolution.
AGIS came into being following the president’s order for the computerisation of all federal government lands records which should include; accurate compilation of personal data of applicants for land, storage and retrieval of cadastral information on layouts, security and control of access to confidential land information management data such as acquisitions, assessments, allocations valuations, consents, assignments and registration of land related matters.
Nigeria is divided into 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.  Land operations at the federal level in Nigeria are being coordinated by Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory (MFCT).
Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development is responsible for the management of all land belonging to the federal government in all the 36 states of the federation while the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory (MFCT) is responsible for all land belonging to the federal government in the Federal Capital Territory only.
Despite the laudable reasons for the establishment of AGIS, residents who have lands dealings with the agency are complaining of the slow pace of land transactions, especially in the issuance of Certificate of Occupancy, being handled by AGIS.
Some of the residents who spoke to Daily Trust lamented that they have spent years waiting to get C- of O of their lands but to no avail.
They said they are being asked to keep checking whether the C of O is ready or not, anytime they visited the AGIS for collection of the document.
One of the residents, Ahmadu Saleh, told Daily Trust how he  bought a parcel of land two years ago at Kuje Area Council and made all the payments but yet to get the Certificate of Occupancy of the land.
According to him, the issuance of C-of-O should not take so long to obtain if one has met all the required conditions for the its issuance.
In the same vein, David Roland who got land in Lugbe said that he has been in and out of AGIS office to get his C-of-O without success.
“Any time I go there they kept telling me that the C-of -O is not ready. If I seek explanation on it, they simply tell me, ‘keeping checking, if it is ready you will get it.’”
Also an Abuja based estate surveyor, Adamu Kasimu, said  AGIS should make it easy for  a buyer of property in Abuja to do so without any fear.
He said: “For you to access your titles in Abuja, it involves a lot of strenuous activities. It is even easier to buy property in Lagos as complex as the state is than here in Abuja. The administrative system in Lagos is faster, smoother than what we have in Abuja. So I will call on the government to look into AGIS because it is the heart of conversion in Abuja, if they are efficient the whole market will be efficient. If they are bad it also affects the whole market,”
He advised the government to ensure that professionals are employed to man the agency.
Responding, AGIS Head of Information and Customers Service, Cosmas Uzodima, said the speed of processing of C of O has been enhanced since the system upgrade embarked upon by FCTA a year ago
“Some of these land applicants even when talking about C of O, of the area councils title which is handled by Accelerated Area Council Title Reissuance Scheme, they would refer to AGIS. But when it comes to FCTA title which AGIS deal with, I don’t think the situation is the same because last year and early this year saw a high numbers of issuance of C of O more that it has ever been experienced since inception of AGIS.”
He said that now AGIS is only doing few things as the system has been shut for the purpose of achieving security of document, pending the arrival of new minister.
“We are doing few things now like payment of statutory bill and opening new files but major things like processing of C of O cannot been done now because it is the statutory responsibility of the minister to sign the C of O and there are numbers of things that has to be done, like change of signature, so it is in their interest,”
He explained that the measures were embarked upon to forestall any abuse of the system, calling on land applicants to be patient with the agency.
Uzodinma said that the Cs of O signed by previous ministers are under collection, adding that  as for new ones nothing can be done till a new minister arrives.