The Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Linus Nkan, has said the introduction of the Akwa Ibom Geographical Information System, AkwaGIS, in the management of land and property will bring about economic prosperity to the state.
Nkan who spoke at the Town Hall media event to introduce the initiative in Uyo recently, also said there was no plan for the state to introduce any Property taxation through the initiative.
“It is not the intention of Akwa Ibom state government to introduce property tax through this process. The AkwaGIS is rather to bring a lot of advantages and benefits to the people. I was a banker in Akwa Ibom State and I do know the problem our people face here. For us, the aspect that is of great interest is the economic progress of our people. “
He praised Governor Udom Emmanuel’s effort at closing the analog and digital gap in the process of documentation, information and management of land and property in the state, maintaining that the Governor was working to realise “the very long dream of Akwa Ibom people to have a digitalisation of land and property and resources.”
He further said the initiative will be of great benefit to businesses in the state in terms of financing.
“You cannot be a very successful business man if you don’t have access to bank facilities. Our people do not have what it takes to provide collateral that can secure them opportunities to have bank facilities to run their businesses. AkwaGIS is one of the ways to have titled documents. This is one of the ways we can use to accelerate the economic development of the state,” Nkan stated.
Earlier, the State Commissioner for Lands and Water Resources, Pastor Umo Eno had said the system will enable government to manage, register and secure landed property in the interest of both the property owners and government through the electronic capturing of land information for easy processing and retrieval.
Consultant to the project, Dr Frank Ekpenyong, who said participation in the process was free for all land and property owners, explained that there are two parts of the programme, which are the one that deals with automating land processes and that which deals on property enumerations.
Even though digital records of all the buildings in the state have been captured, Ekpenyong said what they do not have is information on ownership of the buildings and what they are used for.
“There are two strands to this. The first strand deals with automating land processes. For example, applying for your Certificate of Occupancy, applying or registering for Power of Attorney and doing land transfer. If you buy a land and want to do transfer, you can register that online without any issue. The second part is on property enumeration.
“We already have digital records of all buildings in the state using aerial and satellite imagery. What we do not have is information on who owns the buildings and what the buildings are used for,” he stated.
Chairman of Esit Eket Local Government Area and State Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria ,ALGON, Hon. Iniobong Robson, said a lot of people have fallen into trouble due to the lack of an efficient and effective property enumeration regime, noting that the initiative will make life better in the state curb crime and improve the security of lives and property.
