By Olasunkanmi Akoni & Monsur Olowoopejo

LAGOS — The Lagos State Government, yesterday, said the Land Regularisation Directorate was created to give legal protection for all landed property owners who initially did not acquire such from the state government.
Permanent Secretary, Lands Bureau, Mr. Gbenga Ashafa, stated this during a retreat for Scheme/Land Officers in Badagry.

According to him, the difficulty in dealing with the widespread of illegal properties acquired by property owners outside the Land Use Act made the state government to establish the directorate.
According to him, the directorate was to give new legal status to such properties in the state.

His words: “Not wanting to unduly hurt the people economically and socially, the Land Regularisation Directorate has since its establishment concentrated efforts on processing approvals for the Land Use and Allocation Committee to grant private Certificates of Occupancy to prospective applicants.”

The annual retreat which was attended by top government officials from other agencies such as Land Services, Land Registry, Land Regularisation, New Town Development Authority, Surveyor General’s Office as well as
Physical Planning and Urban Development has its theme, “The Dynamic Relationship between Land Use and Allocation Committee and its sister agencies.”