‘How I rescued Ogun Land Bureau from speculators’ – Gov Abiodun

Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State has revealed how he rescued the State’s Bureau of Lands from land speculators.

Abiodun said he did this to sanitise the bureau and remove one of the difficulties investors used to encounter while planning to set up businesses in the State.

According to him, he had to shut down the land bureau for some times before appointing a capable hand to oversee same.

Abiodun spoke on Tuesday while receiving in audience the board and management of Oodua Investment Company Ltd , led by its Group Chairman, Otunba Bimbo Ashiru, in Abeokuta.

The governor disclosed that his administration had acquired an Electronic Certificate of Occupancy (CofO) equipment that has the capacity to sign 2000 Certificates of Occupancy per day.

He said he needed to sanitize the entire land bureau of the state with the appointment of a tested hand to ensure the smooth running of the office.

This, he stated, is being fast tracked to also ensure that the reforms reflect who the state is.

“People are buying land; they are speculating. We have issues of land speculators. We had to practically shut down our lands department for a while and appointed somebody new to oversee the land administration in the state,” he explained.

Abiodun disclosed that Ogun has a backlog of CofO, saying “I think, we are the first state to implement our ‘Electronic Certificate of Occupancy’ equipment that has a machine that can sign 2,000 certificates of occupancy in a day because it is important for you to have your CofO.”

Abiodun said the delay in issuing CofO had been a clog in the wheel in the past.

‘How I rescued Ogun Land Bureau from speculators’ – Gov Abiodun