According to Vanguard News, property developers in Anambra State are terrified as the administration of Governor Chukwuma Soludo prepares to launch a land verification operation to weed out illegitimate land claimants.
The impacted areas are in Awka, the state capital, and are located at Millennium City Layout, Iyiagu Layout, and Ikenga Layout.
According to a Ministry of Lands representative, the verification followed the accepted recommendations laid out in the white paper produced by the state government’s Land Reform Committee.
The affected layouts require property owners to submit two passport photos, a government identification card, an original photocopy of the land allocation letter, an original photocopy of the building certificate of occupancy (C of O), and an original photocopy of all payment receipts for sighting.
Other requirements include a N5,000 non-refundable application fee and necessary paperwork pertaining to the plots.
The exercise would expire on June 15, 2023, according to a statement from the state ministry of lands’ permanent secretary, Edwin Ejike.
Ejike also supplied information on a specific government account into which the charge would be transferred.
However, many estates’ listed property owners claimed that they had already met these conditions and were therefore surprised by the statement.
However, a retired government servant who owns property in the Iyiagu Estate was of the opinion that the monthly verification will bring order to the system because there are numerous land speculators prowling the state, especially in Awka and Onitsha.