Ekiti State Governor Biodun Oyebanji yesterday launched a ground-breaking 3D drone aerial mapping of the state in a bid to enhance land administration, boost investment and establish a comprehensive geospatial database to support development projects in the state.
Speaking while launching the exercise at a brief ceremony held at Ekiti Agro-Allied International Cargo Airport, Ado-Ekiti, Governor Oyebanji said the exercise was designed to implement a comprehensive land administration solution that would enhance government’s planning capacity and improve service delivery to residents.
He described the exercise as a game changer for the state’s development. Highlighting the transformative potential of the project, Governor Oyebanji said the exercise would streamline land management, promote transparency, ensure security of property ownership, enhance urban planning, as well as position the state as a hub for investors.
He said the aerial mapping would also put an end to the persistent issues of fraudulent land transactions, curb menace of land grabbing, provide accurate land records and eliminate loopholes that had been exploited for land grabbing and other irregularities, thereby making the state more attractive to local and foreign investors.
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Oyebanji, expressing optimism on the transformative potential of the exercise for the state’s economy, said: “By the time we finish what we are doing, it is going to open the window for investment in Ekiti State.
The era of people selling one land to 10 people will stop; the era of land grabbing will stop.
“An investor does not have to go to the office of Surveyor-General to sit with them because at a press of a button, you can locate every land and all houses in the state. So, it is a revolution and I am happy it is happening today.”
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Lands, Survey and e-GIS, Prof James Olaleye, said the exercise was the beginning of modernisation of land administration system in Ekiti through the use of cutting-edge geospatial technologies to improve land administration, infrastructure planning and management, secure land tenures, eliminate blind search for land and boost internally generated revenue of the state.
The contractor handling the project, Olajugba Oluropo, a surveyor, lauded the state government’s forward thinking approach in setting a new standard for land administration in the state.
The aircraft took off for the commencement of the mapping exercise shortly after the brief ceremony.