Oshaka said this feat was possible after zero tolerance to bribery and corruption was vigorously pursued with the establishment of a bank in the CRGIA premises to ensure that no staff of the Agency receives cash for any land transaction. He added that “increased investors’ confidence in doing business in Cross River State through open, responsive and non-bureaucratic operations” further attracted more people to come do business with the Agency.
He however identified forgeries of land documents, multiple allocations of land, overlapping allocations, the lack of mechanized processes to help arrive at a threshold limit for which plot sizes, either for personal or commercial use can be fragmented into, as some of the challenges that come with the manual land administration system in Cross River State.
“…since manual processes were no longer viable options in accurate, efficient and effective land administration…” he continued, “the state government went ahead and initiated a robust Land Information Management System as far back as the year 2000 with an Orthophoto map covering the entire state. This move he says clearly showed “logic, planning and honest intellectual analysis” on the state government’s part in her drive to develop a viable and efficient automated land information system in the state. This drive, the D-G explained, now makes it possible for Certificates of Occupancy and other land ownership instruments to be processed and issued to successful applicants within 21 working days, as against the practice in the past that took years to complete.
Taking a long look at the operations of the Agency, the D-G identified intractable poor internet connectivity as a major hindrance to achieving set objectives in the Agency. Good internet connectivity he maintained will help the Agency achieve frequent and periodic systems update of the different applications hosted on the servers, global connectivity to a variety of stakeholders as well as the constant download/upload of parts of the databases for different purposes.
Papers were also presented at the occasion by the Surveyor-General of Cross River State, Eyo Oku, and a lecturer in the Department, Inah Okon.
The Cross River Geographic Information Agency,CRGIA, has all the solutions to your land needs in CRS…Don’t patronise touts, visit them now! Call 08035238992, 08037258415