The Plateau state Ministry for Lands, Survey and Town Planning today engaged stakeholders on “Efficient Lands Administration And Revenue Generation in the state.
Held at Eliel event center Jos, was moderated by Nde Ezekiel Gomos, Chairman of the Plateau State Economic Team. with stakeholders drawn from both professionals, Technocrats, development partners and clients of the ministry under one roof to brainstorm on the way forward and to chart a way forward for the growth and development of the state through increased revenue generation.
The Commissioner for Lands, Survey and Town Planning, Hon Yakubu Dati, while welcoming all present, said the engagement was a commencement of series of activities all geared towards increased revenue generation by the Plateau State Ministry of Lands, Survey & Town Planning being set in motion with these stakeholders’ engagement to be followed by other activities in this regard all in an effort to bring the state back to the stage of good fortunes through Efficient Land Administration.
He mentioned that the world over now sees land-based revenue as the new black gold of the 21st century even more so with the dwindling income generated from crude oil occasioned by alternative means of energy such as solar and biofuel which is eroding the dependence hitherto placed on crude oil.
Dati decried the fact that In Plateau State, land-based revenue has remained hugely untapped and the returns from the sector are in dire need of a turnaround.
The Hon Commissioner said the Ministry has identified five (5) priority areas it intends to leverage in its bid to improve revenue in the days ahead. These priority areas are; enumeration of properties in the state, mandatory recertification of all certificates of occupancy, standardization of conversion of titles from customary to statutory, massive issuance of demand notice for payment of ground rent, the commencement of recertification within the Miango and Rantya layout.
“I urge you to use your wealth of experience to guide us on the path of increase in the area of revenue generation in the state,” Dati said
The Keynote Speaker at the event, Vice-Chancellor, Plateau State University, Bokkos/National President, Nigeria Institute of Building. Professor Yohana Daniel Izam, FNIOB, praised the initiative for bringing stakeholders together to market new ideas or revisit existing ideas and solicit stakeholders’ support into key initiatives in the land use and administrative sector.
He stated that land was a common denominator to the Wealth of Nations, though created by nature which makes it free and humans are known to mismanage free things of life. However, the conflict that has been generated due to Land issues have called for urgent action to manage the land wealth that we have.
He observed that many countries have built a great fortune around effective land administration sighting an example with Madagascar that has a multisectoral engagement has proved useful.
He mentioned that the regulatory frameworks were considered to be very important, talking about how we manage land reforms for revenue generation or for improving access, or for creating sustainable land tenure systems.
He noted that there has been a push for new urban laws in Plateau state, which will lead to decentralization as lands exist in localities as such registration titles and land use issues should be from the Local Government Areas.
Other prominent guests who spoke at a breakout session as panelists included Hon Abdul Yanga, Chairman House Committee on Lands, Mr Arlat Dashe, chairman of Plateau State Internal Revenue Service
