Nigeria Content Online

The Oyo State government has completed the electronic
storage of about 350,000 land documents in its archives, the state
governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, said yesterday.

Speaking at the official commissioning of the newly
automated lands registry at the state ministry of Lands, Housing and
Survey, in Ibadan, the state capital, the governor said the new system
will help guard against theft, falsification of documents, fire threat
and other forms of destruction to the documents.

He said before his government took the step, land
documents were saved manually since the days of the colonial
government, exposing them to all forms of dangers associated with the
process.

According to him, the new system is not only going
to take care of those challenges, but will also reduce space used in
storing the documents as well as assure on safety.

“The paper documents in the registry consist of
volumes of several ledgers and property cards that have become very old
and worn out due to wear and tear by reason of use and vagaries of
weather,” he said.

The governor urged property owners in the state to
register their interests to avoid being outwitted by fraudsters and
those who might want to obtain land documents under false pretence.

Saving time

He warned land prospectors to go to the land registry
to conduct researches before entering into agreement on lands to
ascertain the bona fide owners of the property, stressing that the
system will always be open to all for verification after payment of the
required fee.

The consultant in charge of the project, Makinyele
Oladeji, said his company, Tabcod Nigeria Limited, uses the latest
facilities on earth for the automation.

“The implication of this project in that the time
required in searching for land documents will be reduced by more than
80% since documents can be retrieved with the touch of a button,” he
said.