Nasarawa land charges rake N325m

Since the middle of 2011, the ministry has been demonstrating the commitment to achieving this, in what saw the middle of 2012 breaking records in revenue earning to the tune of N38,873,957.08 in ground rents alone in the month of August of 2012. This surpassed the total revenue receipts for the 12 months of 2011, […]

Since the middle of 2011, the ministry has been demonstrating the commitment to achieving this, in what saw the middle of 2012 breaking records in revenue earning to the tune of N38,873,957.08 in ground rents alone in the month of August of 2012. This surpassed the total revenue receipts for the 12 months of 2011, which stood at N34,810,681.02. for the 12 months of that year. The ministry netted in the total sum of N317,226,306 in revenue, showing only a small percent in shortfall from the targeted revenue accruals of N500 million from that ministry alone for that year.
Now, only nine months into 2013, with three more months to go, the ministry has recorded over and above the total sum of 2012, netting in over N325 million, with the month of September alone fetching the sum of N69,409,178.03, over and above the quarterly generation of 2012.
This record sum, according to Sonny Agassi, the commissioner in charge of that ministry, represents the demonstration of commitment from the ministry to implement the governor’s new agenda to stimulate the growth of economic fortunes of the state, using lands as capital.
“It can only get better and better here at the ministry. We have a commitment to make money for the state, to hit the state coffers with what Nasarawa has not seen before in revenue generation. The days of waiting for oil revenues to hit our coffers from the FAAC meetings are over; we are here to implement the governor’s big dream to explore our proximity with Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to fetch prosperity for our state,” Agassi, told Daily Trust.
Detailed numbers at the ministry show that in the month of January, the state recorded NN31 million, with February fetching in N42 million, March N39 million, April N32 million, May N23 million, June N37 million, July N20 million and August N29 million. These sums were raked in from Grounds Rents and Development Levy, Compensation on Lands, Survey Fees and other lands-related charges.
“Revenue is not steady. But what we can assure is a steady commitment to lead us to meeting the target we set for ourselves – N500 million this year. With the significant record we have set, achieving close to N400 million in nine months alone, N500 million is already within our record for the year,” he added.
Agassi, a Canadian citizen who returned to his origin to help drive Al-Makura’s vision to reform land administration and management, into the new agenda to stimulate the economy, said the feat achieved is part of the execution of the computerized lands administration system called Nasarawa Geographic Information System (NAGIS), being implemented by a consortium of firms led by Siraj Consulting Engineers.
The 24-month period NAGIS is undertaken in three components, with Aeroprecisa Limited, executing Digital Area Mapping (DAM), and GIS Transport providing Nasarawa Geographic Information Services; and a team of Nigeria’s leading town planners: Pragmatic Solutions Consult Nigeria, Envicons, and National Environmental Design Associates, is handling the planning of cadastral districts in what will give a detailed planning and development control to phase out the growth of slums in the state.
Daily Trust also recalls that during the commissioning by Governor Al-Makura, the former FCT minister, Nasir el’Rufai, who pioneered computerized lands administration system in the country, testified that Nasarawa far surpassed FCTA in the execution of the programme. He said the facilities, scope, and commitment made the state a flag bearer in this 21st Century programme, and hailed the project partners, especially Alhaji Ibrahim Usman Jibril, George Elzoghbi and Roland Klaus, as well as Sonny Agassi, for taking Nasarawa to heights to be envied by Abuja.
Through NAGIS, Agassi said the government will create Karu into a business district where an ambitious revenue is expected to fund development projects in the state, insisting that by the end of the two 24 months the execution of the project is expected to last, Nasarawa can boast of a revenue base where nothing less than N5 billion can be fetched monthly from the land size of 27,000 square kilometers, over and above the about N2 billion monthly the FCTA is generating from a land size of 8,000 square kilometers.
NAGIS was first awarded to JM Technologies, a firm contracted by the previous government of Aliyu Akwe Doma. The firm had the about N500 million job to provide digital aerial mapping, but almost two years later, the present government inherited a badly muddled up NAGIS section in Lafia, and a generator as well as a Toyota Hilux van at a time much of the contract money was already released. There was nothing on ground to prove the expenditure on a project initiated for habitat development. The present administration unbundled the project, and re-awarded it to Siraj Consultancy Engineering, at the cost of N2.7 billion, to include two more components.  
Meanwhile, the state is still being owed about N5 billion from grounds rents alone, close to a year after the state government warned defaulters of a revocation of their land tiles. The outstanding is stretching years of evasion by property owners especially individuals and firms sitting on large lands stretching into several hectares.
“The state has about N5 billion out there to grab from holders of our lands titles of RsofO and CsofO, who are not paying. We had threatened a revocation close to a year now; they feel we don’t have the muscles to go after them.
“We want to send as clear message all defaulters; we will be revoking. We will first list names of defaulters and do an advertorial in national newspapers, to tell them Nasarawa will go after its money and get it. We will embark on massive revocation. We will also seize lands depending on the percentage of indebtedness from the defaulters,” Agassi said.
He also said the NAGIS project will have to start bring in direct money, insisting that implementation partners must have to fast-track data capturing, lands certification and property registration, to translate into money for the state.
“NAGIS now has to start yielding direct money for us. Let our technology there translate into dollars for our people,” Agassi said.
Governor Al-Makura had promised in 2012, that the government will, by the middle of 2013, explore its current reforms in lands management and administration, from where it is planning to explore a dependable and alternative revenue source, away from the federally generated oil revenue.