BY SOYOMBO OPEYEMI,
OPINION
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for a citizen to secure a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) in any public establishment.
There are bottlenecks, official and man-made, created to make dealing with government (officials) a frustrating experience. Worse of these is the syndrome: The official is not on seat, come back tomorrow. That is after you must have wasted the whole day waiting for the same official. Then you finally meet the government man, you are told to bring this, bring that, visit this agency or that establishment, where you repeat the cycle of time-wasting. Indeed, there is pervasive culture of time-wasting in Nigeria; of course, you waste money and energy as well. In a clime where time is money, development is easily attainable. I am yet to know of a country that develops without time maximisation. Time is money. Indeed, time is life!
Since the inauguration of the Senator Ibikunle Amosun administration in May, 2011, emphasis has been on drastic reduction, if not complete elimination, of all bottlenecks in the interface between the public and government (officials). For instance, the culture of e-payment is gradually taking root, thus reducing drastically time-wasting and racket usually associated with the manual method. Harmonisation of company taxes and levies (Haulage of raw materials and finished goods) has significantly been achieved and with a Consolidated Emblem, your vehicle is free to move anywhere on the roads without hassles. The citizenry is the richer for all these initiatives as billions of naira that would otherwise have been lost is now in the government coffers for development. When you recall that Ogun State lost close to 30 billion naira in the Bureau of Lands alone before the advent of the current government, then the picture here becomes clearer.
Amosun is a technocrat-politician with wide experience in finance management. This plays a major role in the financial sanitation going on in Ogun State. And the results are visible to the eyes; even the blind can see!
It is in the same spirit of reduction/ elimination of bottlenecks that the governor, during the launch of the Homeowners' Charter on Monday, December 16, 2013, declared that "the normal process to obtain these documents (Survey, Building Plan Approval and Certificate of Occupancy) would require multiple visits to agencies such as the Ministry of Urban and Physical Planning, Bureau of Lands, Ogun State Internal Revenue Service, among others. Under the Homeowners' Charter, we have created a simple, seamless process with a one-stop-shop in each area. You only need to visit the Homeowners' Charter Centre in your area and all the relevant ministries will be available there."
Life made easy, you would say. What a huge burden that has been lifted off the shoulders of our people. What a relief! I certainly expect a scramble as people rush to take advantage of what would otherwise have been thought impossible in Nigeria - but then there are many Homeowners' Centres spread across the state.
A Certificate of Occupancy, according to Wikipedia online, is evidence that the building complies substantially with the plans and specifications that have been submitted to, and approved by, the local authority. It complements a building permit - a document that must be filed by the applicant with the local authority before construction to indicate that the proposed construction will adhere to ordinances, codes and laws.
I laugh! How many home-owners in Nigeria have Building Plan Approval let alone C of O? There is simply no respect for Town Planning Laws in the country. That's why houses are built haphardly thus making planning extremely difficult. In the words of the governor, "Not only are the properties so constructed illegal but the uncontrolled development of properties create unplanned areas devoid of essential infrastructure such as water, schools, health facilities and road services."
Where then do we go from here? The alternative is grim. The fourth cardinal programme of the Amosun administration is Housing and Urban Renewal. Mowe/ Ibafo axis, for example, is a prime land in view of its proximity to Lagos. But 95 per cent of the structures there have no Building Plan Approval. This reminds one of the former Maroko in Lagos State. And I shudder to imagine what happened to Maroko dwellers some decades ago repeating itself in this axis!
Armed with the law, Ogun State government can level the entire area for proper planning. Well, you built illegally anyway, so the law must take its due course! The same fate would befall Akute and, indeed, all other areas, where people build structures without government approval.
This is a hard choice that confronted . The Moderniser, Senator Ibikunle Amosun. Look at Abeokuta, for instance. It's speedily changing from the status of an ancient to a modern city. When last did you visit Abeokuta? Look at the international standard roads adoring the city, the street lights, pedestrian walkways, overhead bridges. But the price of such transformation has been high, even to the governor as well because his family home was also demolished. Even higher will be the price to pay in the border towns, especially.
However, Amosun is a welfarist. He is an apostle of development with human face. So it is better to first allow owners of properties to regularise their ownership by obtaing the C of O. Development of the areas, according to experts, can then come at a minimal price. Those who have houses and truly wish to be called landlords in the eye of the law in Mowe, Ibafo, Akute, and other areas now have a life-time window to key into the Homeowners' Charter without further delay. And here is the lifeline provided by the Amosun administration:
"The Homeowners' Charter presents an opportunity for all those who have built on private land without obtaining Building Plan Approval and who are therefore unable to apply for a Certificate of Occupancy to regularise their status at a huge discount on what they would normally be required to pay. Also, those who have built illegally on lands that belong to Ogun State Government, OPIC and Housing Corporation and who, for years, have lived with uncertainty about whether government would eventually repossess the lands, are being afforded an opportunity to formalise their ownership, also at a huge discount. All the normal conditions required to obtain Building Plan Approval and C of O, including the requirement to obtain a three-year tax clearance have been waived. We have also waived the penalties for building without approval, which are ten times the normal price. All we ask in return for this once-in-a-life time opportunity is that for every property, the owners will be required to provide us with full enumeration data of each and every resident to enable us to develop an accurate residents' database to support our future planning. We have maximized the discounts and are charging just enough to cover the costs of delivering the programme. For example, a single bungalow with up to 4 bedrooms built on private land in our urban areas would normally pay N430, 000 to obtain Survey, Building Plan Approval and Certificate of Occupancy. Under Homeowners' Charter, the cost is just N95, 000 and this can be paid in instalments... " Has C of O not, essentially, become free in Ogun? What then will be anybody's excuse for not taking by the forelock this very rare opportunity?
The author, Special Assistant on Media to the Ogun State governor.
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