By Helen Kafoi
The Kaduna State Geographic Information Service (KADGIS) has Commenced door-to-door distribution of demand notices/invoices in the metropolitan area of the state, to remind title holders to redeem their obligation for the payment of ground rents and update of property data.
While addressing Field Officers of the exercise at the KADGIS Annex Office Complex, shortly before taking off for the distribution, the Director General of the Service, Mohammad Jalal, encouraged them to put in their best to ensure that they gather quality data, as this service was important for effective and efficient service delivery and proper policy implementation in KADGIS.
“Do your best and give us the required result for quality data collection, and if you encounter any challenge in the course of the work, don’t be afraid to report back to the appropriate channel,” he said.
On his own part, the Deputy Director, Land Administration, Abdullahi Tukur, enjoined the field officers to be of good character and cautious in carrying out their duties as field work was “One of the international best practices in any organization. “We hope that the data you will gather will contribute greatly in uplifting the image of the service,” Tukur stated.”
The exercise is intended to ascertain properties that have been recertified for digital Certificate of Occupancy, regular allocations that have secured titles, and those yet to secure titles, as well as existing land title owners who have maintained the land use as contained in their offers, and those who have changed their land use without the consent of the government.
Speaking to the press on the exercise and the implications of failure to comply after receiving the bills, Jalal explained that, so far, the service had done almost 80 percent of the distribution, which would result in tremendous improvement in the collections of charges.
“I always believe that when somebody is owing you, you always need to remind him; otherwise, the person can reluctantly decide when to pay you. So we brought this idea of sharing the bills to let people know that they have to pay what is due to the state within the stipulated time,” the Director General said, adding that the deadline is 30th December, 2023, for the distribution, while the payment is due by 1st January, 2024, warning that house owners who reneged were liable to face revocation.
