THE Lagos State Lands Bureau has called on the allotees whose Certificates of Occupancy (C-of-O), have been processed to take possession of their properties to avoid any untoward reaction from the government. The affected locations are Ayobo, Ipaja, and Lekki Phase II.

The Permanent Secretary in charge of the Bureau, Mr. Gbenga Ashafa, said in Alausa last week during a media briefing that the state government would not want such land to lie fallow, while those who are in dire need would not have access to property.

Citing Section 10 b of the Land Use Act, Cap L5, which stipulates that all allocated land must be developed within two years of the date of the commencement of the Right of Occupancy, he pointed out that the State Governor had the power to revoke such land.

Although Ashafa said that government was not favorably disposed to such extreme action, he noted that failure to take possession of land usually induces speculation and sometimes, provides a haven to miscreants.

According to the Permanent Secretary, it was such attitude that informed the revocation of some plots in Magodo Residential Scheme and Lekki Residential Scheme 1.

Said Ashafa: "Apart from losing the expected revenue that should accrue from ground rents, leaving such plots undeveloped is capable of being a veritable source for land speculation, apart from the possibility of miscreants turning the place to a place of abode."

Ashafa hinted that apart from improvements in the revenue generated over the period in review, which is N18.61 billion as opposed to the revenue target of N16.3 billion, a total of 14,135 C-of-Os were processed from 2008 to date.

Of these, 1,458 were from state land, 4,052 from private land, while a total of 8,625 were for properties being regularized.

Apart from these, the Permanent Secretary said a total of 544 letters of clearance were issued by the Land Allocation Committee for processing of building plan approvals.

"To achieve our mission statement, which is to ensure optimal utilisation of land resources to achieve even development of the state, and our vision, which targets the fast-tracking of land administration to harness the state government's revenue potentials and provide easy access to land for economic and social benefit, we have put in place a number of proven strategies, one of which is the establishment of Federal Government properties regularization unit," he added.

The unit is saddled with a mandate to regularise the interests in land holdings granted to individuals and corporate bodies by the Federal Government.

The categories of such holdings are: lands vested in the governor before the commencement of Land Use Act No 6 of 1998, such as in South-West and South East Ikoyi residential scheme; Apapa residential scheme; Lagos Island; commercial and industrial schemes; the Yaba and Ikeja residential schemes and the Central Business District (CBD).

Others are lands also vested by the same act that include all land holdings in Lagos state, except those vested in the Federal Government by acquisition.

Ashafa gave the total number of applications received under the year in review as 109, while 69 were processed and approval obtained. He said the 40 other applications are being currently processed