60% Certificates of Occupancy in Lagos are fake – Lawmaker

The Chairman, Committee on Land and Housing, Lagos State House of Assembly, Bayo Osinowo, has disclosed that more than 60 per cent of the Certificate of Occupancy in the state was fake.

The lawmaker said this on Thursday during a plenary session of the Assembly.
Osinowo in his presentation, stated that the Lagos Property Protection Bill, 2013, which had scaled through the second reading, would address the issue if passed into law.

According to him, “The proposed law would also check other wrongdoings associated with landed property ownership and sale in the state.
“In Lagos State, land is our major resource; therefore, nothing will be too much to protect it,” he said.

Also commenting on the bill, Sanai Agunbiade, Chairman of the House Committee on Human Rights, said that the days of agents who forcefully take over landed property was numbered.

He said the bill would prevent omo-onile (indigenes) from exploiting potential buyers before or during construction work.

“It seeks to prevent anyone who, without lawful authority, uses violence to secure entry into any landed property.”

Mudasiru Obasa (ACN-Agege I) advocated the establishment of a special court to try persons who would contravene the provisions of the proposed law.

The report of the joint committee set up to deliberate the bill, is expected within four weeks.

It includes Committees on Lands and Housing, as well as Human Rights and Public Petition.