The Surveyor-General of Lagos State, Surv. Ayokunnu Adesina has hosted the Permanent Secretary and management staff of the Lagos State Ministry of Housing to discuss strategies for fast-tracking the issuance of survey plans for housing estates being constructed by the Ministry.
Welcoming the team led by the Permanent Secretary, Engr. Abdulhafiz Toriola, the Surveyor-General, acknowledged the importance of survey plans to the issuance of titles to house owners, noting that it is to this end that a survey unit was strategically located in the Ministry of Housing to provide prompt professional services.
Surv. Adesina listed the six directorates in the Office of the State Surveyor-General comprising four technical departments, namely: the Cadastral, Survey Coordination, Transaction and Records, Survey Control, Mapping & Boundary and LISSU/GIS; and two non-technical which are Administration & Human Resources; Finance and Accounts Departments. He noted that the Directorate which deals with the Ministry of Housing matters is the Cadastral Directorate.
In his address, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Housing, Engr. Toriola expressed the need to fast-track survey plans of estates being constructed by the government to ensure that the projects are completed promptly for the provision of houses to Lagosians.
While noting that prompt issuance of survey plans will enable the Housing Ministry to function optimally, Toriola said that some of the estates with a backlog of survey plans include Harmony Gardens (along Iyana Ipaja) and Orange Island in Victoria Island, amongst others.
Responding, Surv. Adesina gave an assurance that his office will leverage technology to provide prompt services in attending to the urgent requests of the Ministry of Housing.
“We have converted from analogue to digital. All records that come into our domain are immediately scanned to the digital domain”, he said.
The Surveyor-General also said the zonal offices spread across the state have survey officers deployed to resolve survey issues and promote the ease of doing business.
Appealing that the Permanent Secretary should ensure surveyors deployed to the Ministry of Housing are supported to carry out seamless and efficient service delivery, Surv. Adesina promised to provide the necessary support to make his officers achieve the mandate of the state government in respect of survey matters.
The meeting was attended by management staff of the Ministry of Housing and Directors from the Office of the State Surveyor-General, among others.