By Afusat Agunbiade-Oladipo

The Kwara Geographic Information Service (KW-GIS) has generated about N900 million in 2022 through application for land titles from prospective land owners in the state.

The Executive Chairman of the agency, Malam Mutalib Shittu, disclosed this while briefing newsmen on Thursday in Ilorin.

He said that the feat was made possible due to reforms introduced to achieve the vision of modern land administration in line with international best practices.

He added that full automated operations had made application and processing of Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) possible within 30 days.

“We have kind of stabilised the service to a certain extent away from the past.

“We make sure the income continues to grow, while we transition gradually by full automation; bringing all the paper work into computer, let the computer do it.

“That reduces the time. So what we are trying to do is reduce the time of production of C of O to 30 working days,” he said.

The chairman announced plans by the agency to establish additional zonal and area offices in both Kwara South and Kwara North senatorial districts of the state in order to bring services closer to people and make it more efficient.

Shittu said that the state government could lose investment opportunities without proper land administration.

He said that the mandate of the agency included proper planning of every community in the state.

He added that the new Ilorin masterplan would be ready in the first quarter of the year, adding that implementation is already going on after due consultations, workshops and exhibition with stakeholders.

He said further that the agency had trained 50 staff in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to ensure effective and timely automated operations.

He explained that the remaining staff would be trained on the job, because they are doing it in batches.

Besides, he promised that welfare of the staff would be given premium attention. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola