The Nigerian Governors’ Forum has said states able to capture at least 50 per cent of their property that have electricity connections in urban areas before June 30, 2021 using Geographic Information Systems would get World Bank’s $2m grant each.
Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, NGF’s Head, Media and Public Affairs, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.
Bello-Barkindo explained that the states able to update their property records would each unlock the performance grant under the World Bank-funded States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability programme.
“However, it is imperative that these property records reflect accurate information about the name of the owner/occupier, size of the land parcel, size of the building, use of the land/property amongst other criteria required by the programme.
“It is no news that states are at varying stages of GIS deployment with some notably Kaduna, Kogi, Lagos, Oyo, Nasarawa, and Gombe states leading the way,” he said.
Bello-Barkindo stated further that the NGF had scheduled two events on “using GIS technology to strengthen land administration and property taxation” at the subnational level.
He explained, “The Peer Learning Events are part of several capacity building efforts aimed at supporting the effective deployment of GIS at state-level.
“Efforts are underway to provide states with GIS data, orthophotos of property mapping and software to support enumeration.”
Bello-Barkindo added that the events would have the states showcase their deployment experience, and avail aspiring states the process of deployment an opportunity to break free of challenges that could hinder GIS deployment at state level.
Olanrewaju Ajogbasile, NGF’s Senior Programme Manager, noted that the SFTAS Technical Assistance Project would hold on November 5 and 16.
According to Ajogbasile, states are determined to get it right this time and ensure old mistakes are not repeated.
“GIS deployment and the consequential benefit of holding accurate land and property records will bring sanity to land administration across the country while ensuring that fair and right taxes, fees or levies are charged,” he said.
