BUSINESS DAY
Aare Tunde Debayo Doherty, executive director, 27th Development has explained why the issuance of Certificate of Occupancy often referred to as C of O, an official document issued by the government in Nigeria that certifies a person or organisation as the legal owner of a piece of land or property is often been delayed in Nigeria.
Doherty said the delay happens because Nigeria has a very old system of doing things, where people still do transactions with papers.
He further explained that the new innovations the government is trying to bring in has to do with technology but unfortunately, some of these documents have been lost over time.
“At some time, the capital of the Western region used to be in Ibadan. By the time they moved some of these documents to Lagos and they archived them, they were poorly treated. Some of those documents are torn and have lost value,” he said.
He said in the process of processing the C of O, the government officials often discover that the ‘Root of Title,’ (documents showing ownership of property) is often missing and they can’t find it in their archives.
“If there is no Root of Title, you can’t proceed with your registration. Until this is addressed, we will still be having these problems where you can’t even get your documents registered. It is not just delayed, it doesn’t get registered. This can go on for three to four years. Most times, they blame the lawyer but it is not the fault of the lawyer. It is a poor system of storage and facilitation,” executive director of 27th Development said.
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