PAYMENT OF ANNUAL GROUND RENT IN ZAMFARA: WE DETECTED OVER 16,000 DEFAULTERS – DG ZAGIS
One of the critical areas that has the potentials of enhancing internal revenue generation of Zamfara state is land management and administration. Estimates have shown that, the sector approximately has the capacity of supporting the state with over 3 billion naira annual income which can be of added advantage. Neglecting the sector and abandoning it in the hand of the local agents is putting Zamfara State at a losing end. Estimates have also shown that, a single agent in Zamfara can conduct a landed property transaction worth over 200 million naira per annum without government involvement. This, plus many other issues prompted the State Director General of Zamfara Geographic Information System (ZAGIS), Hassan Idris Gusau to visit the corporate head office of Thunder Blowers Online News Media in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital to shed light on many of the ongoing reforms he is championing aimed at addressing these anomalies.
The Associate Editor of the media platform Anas Sani Anka hosted him thus….
How did the idea of establishing ZAGIS come about?
I think the immediate past administration of Governor Yari started the initiative and ran it as a technical committee with an office accommodation at the State Board of Internal Revenue here in Gusau. They set up the agency and did their best.
When we came on board, Governor Bello Matawalle decided to pick up the project and give it the maximum attention it deserves. He upgraded the leadership status of the agency from Managing Director to Director General, provided for us a permanent office structure at Jibril Bala Yakubu Secretariat and also provided for us all the finances required to enable us fix things the way they are supposed to be done.
I will tell you with confidence ZAGIS is now fully operational especially with the 30 million naira released to us, we were able to do so many things. We have procured survey equipment that are up to the global standard, and we have furnished our offices, provided all that we needed to make our work easier.
Land administration in Zamfara has been characterized by a lot problems ranging from the inability to meet land requirement of the public due to over population, cumbersome processes of securing the right of occupancy and C of O, how did you meet the system in this regard?
Actually, I met almost virtually a nonfunctional system and as a Director General, I met a system that could not meet the public expectations. The land agents were doing what they wanted, transactions concerning land sales and change of ownership were going on without involving the government. In fact land ownership and transfer could not be accurately ascertained based on the government record.
And I told myself that, we cannot continue like this, considering the passion the state Governor has to land reforms. I developed many proposals and spoke to the Governor on several occasions and he rebuilt my aspiration that anything that will move the activities of ZAGIS forward, he is fully in support of it. So I think that is the entry point, we have met a lot abnormalities in the state land management system and we are working towards fixing the problems for the better.
I have also reached out to the stakeholders, the Ministry for Land and Survey, Office of the Surveyor General of the state, Zamfara Urban and Regional Planning Board among many other stakeholders and we are going to work as a team to effect the needed reforms in the land administration and management in the state.
What are your plans toward harnessing the potentials of the state for revenue generation?
Before our coming, land administration and management strategy of the state was almost not earning anything to the revenue generation drive of the state. Like I said earlier, we met a system that was almost out of control of the state government agency and it had been a system managed only between the buyers, sellers and the agent and that brought a lot of crises.
We had some instances where one plot of land would be sold to over five people or a situation where one certificate of occupancy would be issued to more than five people by one single agent and that created crises among people on land management. But since our inception, we have been planning and coordinating to see how we can make things work perfectly for the betterment of the people of the state.
We are planning to introduce e-C of O and we have modernized in a way that it can compete with any global standard. In that regard, we have partitioned Zamfara State into three zones, Zone (A), (B) and (C) and anybody applying for the e-C of O must fall within that category.
Zone (A) comprises of Gusau and its environs, Zone (B) on the other hand includes Kaura Namoda, Talatar Mafara, Bungudu, Bukkuyum, Gummi and Shinkafi while the rest belong to the Zone (C) and anybody who belongs to any of the category should understand that prices for the C of O varies.
We are also trying to enforce the use of legal search for any landed property to be procured by anybody in Zamfara. It does not cost you more than 3000 to come to ZAGIS and apply for legal search of the C of O of any landed property to be procured. This will help minimize crises among the buyers and sellers which had been the standard. That 3000 naira would serve as source of revenue to the state and it will make people who are going to buy a piece of land to have a rest of mind while depositing their money in any investment.
There is also the issue of ground rent which ordinarily, each household is supposed to pay and it is unfortunate for you to note that, when we came on board, we met over 16,000 defaulters, some had not paid their ground rent for over 20 years and this is a big minus for the state. So we are going to enforce the annual payment of ground rent on any person who owns a landed property in Zamfara State.
As for the defaulters, we are waiting for the Governor to officially come and inaugurate our office, we are going to plead with him to grant amnesty to those defaulters by paying some stipends and also ensure regular annual payment of these dues. The money is not much, it is within the range of 6000 naira and above, but for the fact that previous administrations neglected that aspect, people became reluctant.
Under our watch, put it down, nobody will own a landed property without certifying, we will enforce all the necessary laws to make sure that people register their land certify it and also pay annual ground rent so that government can earn more revenue and execute viable projects for the benefit of the people. We are going to ask the Governor to give a grace of time for everyone who owns a landed property to get certified after that period, one must pay the appropriate amount provided for by the ZAGIS.
Why are you insisting that people have to register and get their land certified?
You see, there are many things attached to the issue of Certificate of Occupancy, one it makes your property well secured and also validates your records at the land registry. Anybody who wants to buy your landed property will just go to ZAGIS, apply for legal search and get the position of the land verified.
Secondly the certificate will give you a leverage to apply for any facility from a commercial bank. If for instance Thunder Blowers Online News Medium has a plot of land and it wants to erect a permanent structure for its corporate head office, all you need to do, is to go to Zentih or JAIZ Bank, surrender your C of O as collateral and secure a facility easily.
All that the bank needs is to come to us, verify the status and get confirmation of the ownership of the property. Once that is done, Thunder Blowers will get a loan facility and erect its structures. Without that certificate, the bank cannot consider you for any legitimate transaction.
Do you have any plan for the restructuring of land information system in the state?
Yes, we are working in synergy with the union of land agents and one of the strategies we want to adopt is to get an institutional platform for all the land agents to register with us so that we can have a platform to monitor every landed transaction and I think very soon, we shall reach that level.
Thirdly, our department of Town Planning will work in synergy with Zamfara Urban and Regional Planning Board to ensure strict compliance with the laid down layout of all the areas. If an area is for instance, designed to be an industrial area, no one should buy a plot in that place and erect a housing structure there because we are not going to allow it. The same thing with commercial or residential. We have to strictly follow the state planning and I think when we meet with them, we shall address these problems religiously.
With the setting up of ZAGIS, does Zamfara State have functional land registry? If yes how does it look like and how long will it take you to access up to date data for all the available lands and their owners?
I think this is the area I am working towards, the law establishing ZAGIS needs to be repealed. As I speak with you, the state land registry is domiciled at the Ministry of Land and Survey and I think that will make our job more complex. We need to be in control of the land registry so that we can take records of who owns what and what time he issued it out to who?.
Thank God before the recent trip embarked upon by the Governor, I informed him that there is need for him to sign my memo instructing the State Ministry for Justice to begin repealing the law establishing ZAGIS to accommodate all the crises areas like the one you have mentioned. The Governor promised to assent to the memo as soon as he is back and for sure we shall work it out soon. The Commissioner of Justice is also in the picture so we shall take note of all the crises areas and get the law amended for the betterment of all of us.
One of the strategic areas of your operation expectedly is street naming and house numbering, how soon is this project going to start?
We have many things required of us as an agency and the issue of street naming and house numbering is one of the projects we are prioritizing and we have the mission of transforming the state and making it work in conformity with the global best practices.
We are working towards transforming the state and we cannot afford to live in a state where you cannot use address and house number to trace a particular individual. Take my words, all what is expected of us, will be done without any hitch.
Is there any plan to start aerial setting up of aerial photograph, photo mapping, imaging and drawing to enable anybody from anywhere view Zamfara state and its potentials?
Actually this is a costly project and we are not abandoning it because it is costly, we are taking that as part of our long term plans. I remember, it cost Kaduna State over 200 billion naira to set its satellite images and by the special grace of God we shall join the comity of other states in this regard too.
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