The Nigerian government has approved and issued 1,300 Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) to owners of verified federal government land as at October 25, 2018.
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said in Abuja on Tuesday, 13 November 2018, that the approval and issuance of the certificates were part of efforts at tackling the backlog of issuance of consent and certificates of occupancy on federal government lands.
“A total of 1,216 applications for consent to transfer interests in land application and 1,300 certificates of occupancy have been approved and signed respectively as at 25 October 2018. Some of these transactions started over a decade ago and those just getting certificates acquired their properties years back but never got title,”the minister said.
He said the government had also implemented housing policies like the reduction of equity contribution from five per cent to zero per cent for those seeking mortgage loans of up to N5 million.
The minister said reduction from 15 percent to 10 percent for those seeking loans over N5 million was helping to ease access to housing.
He said the full implementation of the national housing programme by the current administration had resulted in a nationwide housing construction in 34 states where no less than 1,000 people were being employed on each site.
The minister said the housing sites had become an ecosystem of human enterprise, where artisans, vendors, suppliers and craftsmen converge to partake of opportunities and contribute to nation building.
On metering of electricity consumers through Meter Asset Providers Scheme, (MAP), Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, (NERC), Prof. James Momoh, said the commission had issued licenses to 108 meter provider companies.
He said the companies would work with different DisCos to provide meters for Nigerians, adding that the companies would actively begin operations for meter supply through the DisCos before the first quarter of 2019.
On tarrif adjustment, Momoh said there were factors to be determined before coming up with adjustment of the electricity tariff. “We cannot give you the actual tariff adjustment without provision of meters. We will have to put all the factors together before we can determine how much consumers can pay,” he said.
He said it was important to address the issue of technical and commercial losses, as well as to ensure proper enumeration of customers before coming up with any tariff adjustment. He said it was fair to allow more meter coverage of customers before determining adjustment on unit price of electricity.
– APA
