By Ogochukwu Isioma
Managing Director of Edo State Geographic Information Service (EdoGIS), Dr Tony Ikpasaja, says Governor Monday Okpebholo, in two months, issued over 9,000 certificates of occupancy.
He also said this was a quantum leap compared to the 1,000 1,000 Cs-of-O issued in two years by former governor Godwin Obaseki.
Ikpasaja further disclosed how the consultant employed by former Governor Godwin Obaseki, crippled the issuance of certificates of occupancy (Cs-of-O) by shutting down the Agency’s system.
Ikpasaja disclosed this weekend when Executives of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Benin City.
He disclosed that over 9,000 certificates of occupancy were registered by the current administration of Governor Monday Okpebholo between February and April 17, 2025, as against the 1,000 certificates of occupancy issued by the immediate past government between 2023 and February 2025.
The EdoGIS boss said the agency recently purchased more sophisticated equipment to improve its productivity and to ensure that applicants’ applications are attended to as quickly as possible.
He further disclosed that the agency under his leadership inherited over 7,500 files of applicants who want their land to be registered and captured in the EdoGis database unattended to by the previous administration.
“As of today, I can boldly tell you that we have captured and processed over 9,000 files of Certificates of Occupancy.
“Over 9,000 certificates of occupancy have been registered from February 2025 to date with the new software against 1000 registered from 2023 to February 2025.
“When I came on board I met about 7,500 total files of applicants that were not attended to. It is disheartening that people will pay for registration and the files will be unattended,” he said.
Ikpasaja however assured applicants that their files for Certificates of Occupancy would henceforth be treated and captured into the database.
