The Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi on Saturday announced the introduction of the Electronic Certificate of Occupancy, thereby ditching the use the paper-based Certificate of Occupancy.

During the official launch of the enumeration and assessment of properties in the state, the governor also announced the Homeowners Charter Policy, which would enable homeowners in the state to regularise their land documents.

According to him, the e-C of O would have security features to make it a lot more copy proof.

The governor said that the scheme was created to enable homeowners in the state, who had yet to obtain title documents like survey and building plans, to do so without delay and at affordable amount of N120,000.

He assured the people that the process would be transparent and devoid of unnecessary bottlenecks.

“This is one of the measures being put in place by our government not only to lessen the pains of the current economic downturn on our people but to empower them for greater economic possibilities.

“Also, the Oyo State Government is changing from the current use of the paper-based Certificate of Occupancy to ‘e-C of O’, the electronic Certificate of Occupancy with features to make it a lot more secure and copy-proof,” he said.

To ensure the success of the state property enumeration and assessment, the governor urged the people of the state to cooperate with members of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Oyo State chapter, which has been assigned to handle the work.

He added, “Without a dependable data base, neither significant nor sustainable developmental objectives can be achieved. However and   in order to generate and categorise this critical information, the state government decided to engage the services and collaboration of the Oyo State chapter of NIESV.”