PROPERTY ARTICLES

A feeling of frustration and tone of displeasure rend the air last week as members of Nigerian Institution of Estates surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), picked holes in the way Lagos State Government evolves policies and deals with land matters in the metropolis.

Under the umbrella of its Lagos chapter, members of the institution, gathered in Lagos for their business luncheon. The luncheon was spiced with a lecture on regulations, laws and land policies operational in the state.

But as soon as the guest speaker, the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Babatunde Fashola on lands, Mr. Aina Salami, ended his presentation, notable officers of the institution spoke up on sundry issues that have been bothering them on the way the state natural resources - land is being managed.

Specifically, their grouse is that Lagos State Government has been handling and managing land without allowing those who are professionally qualified for the job to make input, arguing that is why many of the good intended policies of the state are often met with resistance from the stakeholders. They also expressed worry over the move by the state to make money out of very land deal, adding this was not right.

Other issues raised by the aggrieved NIESV's members, including former institution's past president and chairman of the occasion, Mr. O.J.A Idudu, Mr. Elias Ovesuor, NIESV's chairman; Otunba Bola Onabadejo, Messrs Biyi Adesanya amongst others.

They all criticized the government on how it arrived at the policy on land use charge and rent control bill, without involving the estate surveyors. According to them, it was wrong for the state government to give the headship of land ministry, which they claimed to be their constitutional duty, to a lawyer.

Idudu said that, it had been very difficult in the recent times to get planning approvals in some parts of the state, like Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Ikeja G.R.A. He said in some other areas, where you get approvals, same come much too late in the day and therefore, not good for business. Idudu, like others, frowned at the idea where the state set out to make money from the process, which they termed to be administrative.

Idudu, who is also Chairman, Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVABON), objected to the state's position of regularization procedure of the landed property, once owned by the Federal Government, now privatized to investors.

He said: "Regularization, the way we see it in the practice is nothing but repurchase of the property once owned and controlled by the Federal Government. Once a new buyer buys a property, except there is a problem with the root of the documents, the new buyer automatically assumes the ownership of the property, without any encumbrances.

Idudu continued: " There is a law in Nigeria, which empowers NIESV to carry out valuation of properties. Though, we never objected to the land use charge, what we find unacceptable is the way Lagos State government has been engaging non-NIESV members to carry out valuation job."

He also quarried the rationale for the state to appoint non- estate surveyors as the head of land bureau in the state's public service structure?

Messrs Bola Onabadejo, said that as much as the vision of Lagos state Governor is on land matters is concerned, such feat will become more practicable if estate surveyors are included in the policy formulation and implementation. Onabadejo said that, the state has not been faring better in implementing its land use charge policy, simply because it did not involve estate surveyors in formulating the policy. But, he opposed the proposed control of rent in Lagos, saying the state could not regulate what it does not own.

Adesanya said that the state should not see landed as solely economic generated means, but an alternative tool, demanding good management that will be economically, politically and socially friendly.

For Ovesuor, said that land, being the central point of their profession could be described as the vein and artery through which the blood system (economic activities) of mankind circulated. He added that no activity can take place without space-land, and to avoid chaos, these activities or use of land must be planned, arranged and executed by the stakeholders through discernible manual.

Speaking on the role of estate surveyors on land management, Ovesuor said: " Estate Surveyors and Valuers are land economist, hence, the engine room of the nation's land resources management and utilization. It is incumbent on us therefore to be deeply invlived in the formulation and implementation of rules, regulations, policies and laws that affect the use, planning and development of land.

In his paper, Salami said that the solution to ceaseless migration resulting in the development of mega cities with the challenges of land use, environmental degredation and infrastructural decay in developing countries lies in taking development to the inter land and the proper application of land zoning to urban spatial order.

According to him, government efforts being made to locate site and services schemes at peripheral towns of the city in the different divisions of the state, the light rail project, all these will eventually help in having a well planned mega city and also contain or reduce the population of city dwellers in not too distant future; less pressure would be brought to bear on the regenerated urban settlement of our Lagos mega city.

Some of the recent regulatory and, or policy reforms, according to Salami are:

• The introduction of Electronic Document Management System (EDMS).
• Since the introduction of the EDMS, the system has eliminated paper documentation to zero level, improve efficiency and accuracy and reduced to the barest level systemic corruption. By now, almost 10 million Land documents have been scanned and converted to electronic format.
• Digital mapping which the office of the Surveyor-General, Lagos State is undertaking will when completed go a long way to enhance the effective use of the EDMS with an available base maps that will ensure and guarantee better planning and policy implementation in Land and Housing sectors of the State.
• The introduction of the new procedure of obtaining Governor's Consent in Lagos State has eliminated the previous protracted delays in the processing of Governor's Consent, intricate bureaucratic red-tape and the manifest inefficiency associated with obtaining Governor's Consent to Assignment of properties by property owners.
• The establishment of the Department of land Regularization. The intention here is to officially approve for Title, Government Land purchased by the public from fraudulent vendors, land speculators/vendors.
• Improvement in the development of infrastructure that would aid Land administration/reforms of the State Government.
• A pro-active policy on property perfection and registration, which has made the Government to recently embark on the consolidation and reform of its Laws on Title Registration which will soon come out.
• A review of the change-of-use policy to prevent the abuse of town planning and urban protection laws that turned Ikoyi and Victoria Island in Lagos into urban slums.
• The establishment of mortgage registry for the registration of mortgages, allocation of registration numbers and the validation of receipts of payments. This action has eliminated some of the previously known incidences of fraud and criminality associated with titles and mortgages.
• The establishment of a land acquisition and excision registry; in this segment of the Registry, records of excised, acquired and revoked Lands are kept and searches of such can be conducted electronically. Note that the said New Law on Registration of Titles makes the Registration of such acquired/excised Land compulsory by the Government.
• Work is also at advanced stage to enable users of the registry to conduct their searches online and obtain reports on such searches without necessarily physically coming to the registry, thereby reducing in future the high rate of human traffic to the lands Registry in Alausa, Ikeja.
• In the implementation of the State's ten point Agenda, one of the critical success factors was identified as available Data Base for planning. With the Electronic Documentation going on at the Lands Bureau and the Digital Mapping about to take off at the Surveyor-General's Office, information needed for development purposes in the State is expected to be seamlessly assessed and used.
• Government's efforts at reducing land rates and taxes will probably be better appreciated in the nearest future but we need to note and point out here that in its bid to reduce the cost of processing consent to subsequent transactions, the fee payable is now 8% of the value of property (instead of 15% of old); now it is the other taxes payable (capital gains, stamp duties and registration) that add up to 15%. It should be noted here that the value used by Government in the assessment of the consent charges is far lower than the market value of the property.
• Even the cost of Government/State Lands (in Government schemes), the public is unaware would have cost Government far less to deliver to intending Allottees but for the high cost of provision of infrastructure (the cost of which is outside the ability of the State to influence) which is why capital contribution used for provision of such infrastructure in such Government schemes takes the lion share in the cost of State's Land.
• Government is collaborating with private sectors in its private developers schemes by allocating Lands to those who are ready to collaborate with Government in the provision of housing for the people of the State.
• The re-issue of new Certificate of Occupancy project to boost investor's confidence by instilling integrity in the State's Certficate of Occupancy with a view to substantially encouraging investment in the real estate market of the State.