For the past four years, almost nobody who applied for a C of O from the Akwa Ibom State Government has received one.
Globally, land ownership is one of the core tenets of entrepreneurship - owning a piece of land means that an entrepreneur has an asset that can be used to apply for loans to either start a new business or grow an existing business.
Nigeria has the unfortunate land law that prevents anyone from actually owning land - rather, you ‘occupy’ land for a period of 99 years, after which it reverts back to the government. And oddly enough, the power to issue the certificates indicating who occupies a particular piece of land lies only with the state governor.
When the Governor hence refuses to issue out certificate of occupancies, there is no other way of actually taking legal ownership of the land. And that is exactly what Udom has done - he has refused to actually sign any C of O in Akwa Ibom State.
Doing this shows that he is being disrespectful of citizens. When a citizen has purchased a piece of land and the transaction is valid, it is the duty of the Governor to issue out a certificate of occupancy. Not doing so is attacking the very reason the Governor was appointed to serve by citizens.
In refusing to sign C o Os, it means that Udom is stifling the growth of entrepreneurship in the state. This is ironic, considering that Udom has always claimed to be pro-industry.
I guess we should judge a man by his actions, and not his words.
0 Comments