PERTURBED by proliferation of fake land documents in circulation within the metropolis, members of the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS), Ogun State Branch, have tasked the state government and all stakeholders to rise to the challenge by blocking all loose ends in the land administration in the state.The NIS' members last week expressed grave concern to the way and manner at which fake documents on land matters are being procured in many states across the country, especially in Ogun State, at the parley organised by land professionals.Drawing the attention of government and people of the state to the circulation of fake, forged and backdated survey plans, which were being used to process and approve building development plans in the state, the practitioners regretted the situation, which they perceived is being fueled by endemic corruption that bedeviled Nigerian society.The gathering at Abeokuta was the commemoration of 2011 Sanyaolu Memorial Lecture in honour of the late Surveyor-General of Ogun State, Mr. Adefemi Sanyaolu. The surveyors at the event unanimously condemned the high level of corruption in the country.The Chairman, NIS, Ogun State Branch, Mr. Kunle Ogunbadewa, said the choice of topic was to open the eyes of members of the profession to the evil of corruption and enlighten their minds to the reality of their collective responsibility to fight it.Ogunbadewa was of the view that Ogun government is losing a lot of revenue, 'which would have been generated from the lodgment of record (red) copies of survey plans and verification of such at the Bureau of Lands and Survey'.According to him, it may also embarrass the government, especially if such fake or unverified survey plans are used to approve building plan on an acquired land. To the general public, the fake or backdated survey plans cannot be used for registration of title documents like C of O and so on.He added that in order to arrest the ugly trend of production of fake and backdated survey plans, the Ogun NIS Chairman said the institution had introduced the issuance of certificate of deposit, which every client was supposed to demand from the surveyor as evidence of lodgment of the record copy of the survey plan prepared for them.He said the certificate of deposit is to be attached to the survey plan required on application for procurement of Certificate of Occupancy (C of O), Governor's Consent as well as applications for building development permit.In the same vein, the group is also lamenting the pervasive corruption in the country, while condemning the principle of plea bargain, which they described as unhelpful in the fight against corruption.The chairman of the occasion and former Director-General, National Population Commission, Dr. Bola Akinsanya, said corruption was becoming a culture in Nigeria, and that the country was the only one that celebrated the pandemic and rolled out the drums to celebrate people convicted of corruptioThe guest lecturer, Mr. Mutiu Agboke, said that plea bargain, as it was being done in the country, was promoting corruption, rather than serving as a deterrent to those engaged in it.He said the Federal Government's attitude to the prosecution of high profile offenders should not be the one that would give soft landing to a corrupt person regardless of his status or class through plea bargain.Agboke noted that whosoever is plea bargaining may do so and still be convicted. But all the fruits of his corrupt ventures should be confiscated, calling on the National Assembly to hasten the passage of the Asset Forfeiture Bill.'This is the law that will definitely compel convicted corrupt officials to forfeit any form of asset acquired by him and located anywhere in the world to the Federal Government.
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