Oyo releases 245 C-of-Os, sacks all town planning ad hoc staff

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The Oyo State Government has said about 245 electronic Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) are ready for collection at the State Ministry of Land, Housing and Survey.
It also said it had dismissed all ad-hoc staff at various State Town Planning Offices, after it discovered they were perpetrating fraud and issuing fake receipts and other papers to land owners.
A statement by the Oyo State Commissioner for Lands, Housing and Survey, Ajiboye Omodewu, which was made available to PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday, said the ad-hoc staff had been ordered to vacate the premises of the offices immediately.
Mr. Omodewu said the state government had moved from analogue Certificates of Occupancy to electronic ones for efficiency and technological advancement.
He said the electronic C of O has security features and encrypted security code which is unique to the owner, adding that the picture of title holder would appear on it with the survey plan of the land printed at the back of the certificate in order to prevent fraudulent productions.
Mr. Omodewu urged the members of the public to take advantage of the electronic C of O to have proper title documents, noting that this would protect land owners from land grabbers.
On the activities of the ad-hoc staff, he said they were issuing fake receipts and bank tellers to unsuspecting members of the public, as well as posing as Town Planning Officers at the various Town Planning Offices in the state.
He explained that after the bureau got a tip off about the circulation of fake receipts and bank tellers by these unscrupulous people, it delegated some officials to carry out investigations on the matter which eventually led to the arrest of one of the culprits named Asumo Abiola at Akinyele Local Government who is now in police custody.
He added that the ad-hoc staff would be arrested and handed over to the law enforcement agents if found around the state offices.

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