Francesca Odimgbe
The Lagos State Government and critical stakeholders on Friday expressed their commitment and support for the Lagos State Geographic Information Service (LAGIS) Bill, which aims to support development programmes and provide a computerised and harmonised central database for all land administration processes in Lagos State.
Speaking during the LAGIS Bill Retreat held at Ikeja by the Office of the e-GIS and Urban Development, top officials of Lagos State Government from both the executive and legislative arms of government, as well as other key stakeholders, unanimously supported the LAGIS Bill. According to them, when passed into law, the bill will create a comprehensive database and strengthen land administration processes in Lagos State.
The LAGIS Bill, which has passed through first and second readings at the Lagos State House of Assembly, when passed into law, will make the Lagos State Geographic Information Service a full-fledged agency to provide a computerised and harmonised central database for all land administration processes in Lagos State. When LAGIS becomes a full agency, it will be headed by a General Manager and monitored by a Governing Board comprising the Permanent Secretaries of relevant Ministries.
The Special Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on e-GIS and Urban Development, Dr. Olajide Babatunde, while speaking at the retreat, disclosed that the LAGIS Bill, when passed into law, would support development programmes such as tourism promotion, industrial development, boundary resolution, property valuation and revaluation for effective taxation and revenue collection, population and housing census operation, as well as planning of urban and rural settlements and transportation, flood and erosion control, mineral development and communication planning, among others in the State.
He said: “Lagos State Geographic Information Service is a service that will connect all the MDAs in Lagos, where we are all going to use data to make our processes more efficient. When the LAGIS Bill becomes law, we will be able to process building approvals seamlessly. What we hitherto did in 10 days, 20 days, or three months, we will be able to do in minutes.
“As we speak, even though the agency has not been birthed, we have been working as an Office of eGIS and Urban Development to make sure that all our MDAs that are working specifically on land-related matters—Office of Physical Planning, Office of Urban Development. Office of Surveyor-General, Land Matters, Office of Land Valuation—ensure that through technology we can get to where we are today.”
Babatunde, who urged residents of the State to take advantage of the ongoing Lagos State Government amnesty window to get building approval for their property, hinted that the State Government will invest in satellites for effective communication and monitoring as done in developed countries.
He said: “The Office of Physical Planning is carrying out what is called amnesty, and under the amnesty programme, we are asking those who did not have building approval to go and get the approval. Failure to get the approval will mean that government agencies will disturb those buildings. We should try as much as possible to live in peace.
“The government is peaceful, but when confronted with challenges of building approval, particularly those that lead to building collapses, we cannot rest as a government. Rather than lose lives and properties, we will ensure that we do not rest until we make sure that 10 percent of those who have building approvals in Lagos grow from 10 to 20, from 20 to 30, 30 to 50, and 50 to 100.”
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Physical Planning, e-GIS and Urban Development, Hon. Sylvester Ogunkelu, who represented the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, disclosed that the LAGIS Bill has passed a second reading on the floor of the House of Assembly. He assured Lagos residents that they would be the beneficiaries when the bill is passed into law.
“LAGIS Bill will enhance the processing of land certificates, and it will ensure transparency if you are doing anything about land processing in Lagos State. The LAGIS Bill when it turns to law will go through all the MDAs and Lagosians can be in their house to process CofO and other documents through an electronic platform,” he said.