By: Tolulope Oluwole
….Obtaining C-of-O makes property owners prosper and improve economic wellbeing of people —Govt
The Ondo State Government has embarked on sensitisation of bank officials and other stakeholders on application for and collection of Certificate of Occupancy (C-of-O) at the State Ministry of Lands, Housing and Infrastructure.
The sensitisation programme was held at Oyemekun road, Akure, the State capital
Speaking at the event, the State Commissioner for Finance, Mr Wale Akinterinwa, in his welcome address, stated that the whole idea of the Home Ownership Charter Ondo State, HOCOS is to unleash some of the hidden prosperities of the state and also to unleash the opportunities people have.
His words, “people have assets they want to grow but they don’t know how to go about it but today, people can have access to Ccertificate of Occupancy within a record time. It is not for the state government to make money (alone), but to let the people prosper, to improve the economic wellbeing of the people of the state by helping them to use what they have to improve on what they are doing.”
“That is why we have asked for your hands in partnership and to carry you along and let you see how things works and how we can all benefit from it. Let us work together to improve the lives of our people,” Akinterinwa said.
In an address, the Executive Chairman of the Ondo State Internal Revenue Service, ODIRS, Mr Tolu Adegbie stated that the ODIRS is the Public Relations aspect of the HOCOS project, as it handles the contact center, all emails, tracking, tracing of applications, supply forms, issues receipt after the payment is being made to the government’s account.
He noted that in some cases, C-of-O can be ready within 60 days.
Adegbie also added that there are area offices of ODIRS in the 18 local government areas of Ondo State and the HOCOS fliers are available in all the offices.
The ODIRS Boss stressed that anyone having challenges with their registration could contact the office without leaving their home or offices by sending an email, or call or send a message via WhatsApp.
On his part, the State Commissioner for Lands, Housing and Infrastructure, Engr. Rahimi Aminu explained that the product (HOCOS) is to ease the suffering of the people of the State.
Aminu added that “in the past, the process of having a Certificate of Occupancy in the state would take years and in 2017, the Governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu called the necessary stakeholders into a meeting that such delay will be a thing of the the past and since then, there have been a great improvement.”
He further stressed that a C-of-O can be gotten within a maximum of 40 days, “the C of O are now automated and can be verified on phone by the banks. He urged the banks to do more.”
Mr Alex Alake, the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Lands said the essence of the gathering was to further enlightment campaign to the people and also to let them know the series of efforts the government has put in place to ensure that people get their entitled documents which is the Certificate of Occupancy in record time and also, to let the people know that obtaining consent to mortgage is as fast as possible.
He said, “the processing of legal mortgage in Ondo state is in two pages, which are: Processing of Governor’s consent and Registration of Deed of legal mortgage.”
Alake noted that the requirements for processing Governor’s consent to mortgage includes: “Completed Application form, photocopy of Certificate of Occupancy, photocopy of Current Tax Ccearance certificate of applicant, evidence of payment of Ondo State development levy, copy of valuation report of the subject property, evidence of payment of statutory fees.
“And the requirements for registration of deed of legal mortgage are: Consent letter, minimum of 3 copies of deed of legal mortgage with evidence of payment of stamp duty. The cost of registration of deeds of legal mortgage in Ondo State #2,500 and Late Registration #5,000,” Alake said.
