Against the backdrop of complaints of delay in the processing of land title documents, the Ekiti State government has out-sourced the processing of Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) in the state to a private consultant under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme.

The first set of applicants under the scheme were recently presented with their C of O at a ceremony recently in Ado Ekiti, the state capital.

Ekiti State Commissioner for Lands, Urban and Regional Planning, Mr. Kayode Babade, while presenting about 20 successful applicants with their land title documents, described the event as a demonstration of the government’s commitment that the PPP arrangement would ensure the earnest processing and issuance of the C of O within a period of not less than thirty days.

Babade noted that some of the applications pending since 2004 have been handed over to the consultant for processing and timely completion and reminded the owners to visit the office to perfect and complete other documents. He asserted that only the consultant has the legal mandate to process the C of O in the state on behalf of the state government.

“Since August, this year, no government agents can process C of O again, in fact, we have over 534 outstanding files on the table of the consultant undergoing processing,” he said.

The Executive Director, Archiplan Nigeria Ltd, the consulting firm, Mr. Babawale James, in his remarks, assured of his firm’s determination to ensure that applicants obtain their C of O within 30 days after payment of the total charges alongside all the required documents.