Edo citizens laud Obaseki over C of O Christmas promo

The Godwin Obaseki-led Land Use Reform agenda took an innovative dimension on Sunday with the unveiling of a unique initiative aimed at encouraging property owners in Edo State to collect their Certificates of Occupancy.
A first of its kind in Nigeria, the state government announced plans to reward property owners with
exciting prizes including a brand new 14-seater bus for registering their property and collecting the digitally issued C of O.
Announcing the commencement of the promo, Frank Evbuomwan, Managing Director of the Edo State Geographic Information Service (EdoGIS), revealed that the initiative was in Obaseki’s vision for a seamless land administration regime across Edo State.
In seeking to achieve this vision, the state government had invested heavily in harmonizing the legislation and establishing a new order in its land use processes.
This transformation led to the establishment of the Edo Geographic Information Service (EdoGIS),
the sole organization charged with the administration of land in Edo State.
Since the reforms commenced, Evbuomwan, an architech, revealed that not only had the issuance of C of Os been
digitised, the process had also been made easier and much cheaper.
According to him, within less than seven-weeks of applying, applications are assured of receiving their C of O.
The processing fees had also been drastically reduced to ensure more people have the opportunity to collect their property documents with ease.
In essence, the process that cost upwards of N300,000 now costs around N50,000, and where property owners spent up to a full year waiting for their certificates, they could collect these certificates within just seven weeks.
“To further incentivise property owners, the state is going further by offering exciting prizes for people who register their property and collect their C of O. In our opinion, it is important to reward voluntary compliance and this is what this promo is all about”, he continued.
“With this promo, property owners stand the chance of winning numerous prizes, including the
grand prize- a brand new 14-seater bus. Other prizes include fridges, generators, Motorcycles as well
as numerous consolation prizes. Every week, we will select winners in a transparent process at the
offices of EdoGIS and winners will receive their prizes instantly”, he concluded.
The promo, which started on the 1st of December, will run until the 7th of January 2019, with winners emerging from the weekly draws.