Borno govt appeals to residents over house marking

From Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri

Borno State Geographical Information System (BOGIS) has appealed to residents of Maiduguri to be patience over the new land reforms system introduced by the state government.

Executive Secretary of the agency, Alhaji Adam Bababe gave the appeal at a press briefing in Maiduguri, state capital on Friday.

He said the agency embarked on marking of houses in the metropolis following discoveries of a lot of inconsistencies in the property ownership, Change of Purposes (CP) and sub- division of property among others. He said BOGIS was established by the goveneor to reconcile all the inconsistencies, return the state capital to its original plan while equally ensuring adherence to land act of the Borno State.

“The general public should be patience with the government. We all want change but change is difficult to achieve. It come with a prize. We need to adhere to the rules if we want sanity in Maiduguri city. We cannot continue the way it is now otherwise things we be very bad in the future,” he explained.

He said there are over 200 petrol stations in the city. He said the statistic as unhealthy for the environment, noting that the number of vehicles in the metropolis may not require such file stations. He said the agency has set up a committee to look into this. He promised to avail members of the public with findings and recommendations when the committee complete its task.

“However, preliminary reports of the committee indicates that there are over 200 filling stations in Maiduguri. There wont be any approvals again for petrol stations aside those who already got their,” he vowed.

He said the agency embarked on marking of houses after it realised about 10 percent of land owners approach it for reconciliation of their property documents and payment of appropriate fee. He said the agency was humane enough by not treating the matter legally.

He appealed to residents to appreciate the efforts of the agency, adding that it was geared toward improving the city plan, sanitise land ownership and stop unscrupulous elements from exploiting the loopholes in the system. He said all documentation relating to land issues in the capital have been computerised. He urged people not to deal with any third party.