The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) says States able to update their property records before June 30, 2021 to capture at least 50% of the property that have electricity connections in urban areas will each unlock USD$2million in performance grant under the World Bank funded States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) Program for Results.
The NGF, in a statement issued on Wednesday, however, said that it is imperative that these property records reflect accurate information about the name of the owner/occupier, size of the land parcel, size of the building, use of the land/property amongst other criteria required by the programme.
The statement said States are at varying stages of the deployment of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Technology to strengthen land administration, stressing that Kaduna, Kogi, Lagos, Oyo, Nasarawa, and Gombe States are leading the way.
The statement said the leading States will showcase their deployment experience and avail aspiring States still early in the process an opportunity to break free of challenges that could derail and hinder GIS deployment at State level at the coming two Virtual Peer Learning Events (PLEs) on “Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Technology to Strengthen Land Administration and Property Taxation” at the subnational level.
The two coming events are organised by the NGF in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning (FMFBNP) assisted by the World Bank.
The statement said the Peer Learning Events are part of several capacity building efforts aimed at supporting the effective deployment of GIS at State-level, adding that efforts were underway to provide States with GIS data, orthophotos of property mapping and software to support enumeration.
The Senior Program Manager of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum SFTAS Technical Assistance Project, Olanrewaju Ajogbasile, who shared the invitation, disclosed that the two Peer Learning Events (PLEs) will hold on Thursday 5th and Monday 16th November 2020.
Ajogbasile said the States were determined to get it right this time and ensure old mistakes are not repeated, thus, the need to learn from the experiences of others who have led the way in GIS deployment.
He added that that GIS deployment and the consequential benefit of holding accurate land and property records will bring sanity to land administration across the country while ensuring that fair and right taxes, fees or levies are charged.
He said that at least 160 persons will be in attendance at both Peer Learning Events including State actors, partners and implementing agencies on the SFTAS programme.
Amongst the State officials to attend are States Project Managers for the GIS deployment, Directors of Lands (Ministry of Lands/GIS Agency); Directors, Property Tax (State IRS); and States SFTAS Focal Persons.
According to the statement, expectations are also that each State will as part of the efforts to strengthen the land administration system, engage relevant civil societies and associations including the citizenry to ensure smooth implementation of critical reforms that may follow.
