Governor Babagana Zulum signed 775 Certificates of Occupancy on land ownership between 2020 and 2022, Engr. Adam Bababe, Executive Secretary of Borno Geographic Information Service (BOGIS), said on Saturday in Maiduguri.
Bababe told newsmen that before the establishment of BOGIS in 2020, successive governments in the state signed only 1,722 Certificates of Occupancy in 20 years 1999 to 2019.
He also announced that the agency had completed the digitisation of processes of all existing land files and was in the process of linking the files to what was physically on ground.
He cautioned beneficiaries against using certified lands for purposes other than which the Certificates of Occupancy were signed, adding that in the event of change of plan, users should contact BOGIS for alteration.
He said also that the 2022 flood had vindicated government’s marking of houses constructed on waterways or inside river banks for demolition as the floods had washed some of them away.
Bababe said owners of such structures misunderstood government’s intention to save lives, until the floods posed a threat to their lives.