Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has ordered the enumeration of all landed property and naming of all streets across the 16 Local Government Areas of the state for improved security and socio-economic development.
Fayemi, whose administration has commenced training of 485 enumerators to accomplish the task, said this proper land policy becomes imperative, to guide the state in view of the present security challenges and ensuring even distribution of amenities, by ascertaining areas of deficit and surplus.
The governor, who spoke on Thursday during the commencement of training for the enumerators and community relations officers in Ado Ekiti, regretted that lack of proper street naming and numbering in the state is hampering development.
Fayemi, represented by Director-General, Bureau of Lands, Mrs Funke Falodun, said the measure would also boost Ekiti’s land administration and management.
Fayemi noted that the programme, midwifed by the Ekiti State Geospatial Data Center (EK-SGDC), was in furtherance of the Fiscal Transparency Accountability and Sustainability (STFAS) Disbursement Link Indicator (DLI) 11.3 Property Records Survey Scheme of Ekiti State.
He said: “The essence of the training program is to get the Enumerators and the Community Relation Officers abreast of the importance of quality spatial data collection to the development of our state.
“The success of any survey work depends on the quality and authenticity of the data collection. Let me emphasize that the State Government is committed to the provision of infrastructures, improved security and general well-being of the people of this State.”
Also, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Geographical Information System, Mr Bode Ogunyemi, said the purpose of the training, is to boost the effectiveness of the enumerators and community relation officers to gather authentic and accurate data to be deployed for good governance.
“Part of why many Nigerians were being denied visas to USA is that they have no proper identification about their residential places. Even if you check Google Map, it will indicate the name of any area and the number of each residence, but this is not applicable to Ekiti.
“But if we have proper street naming and numbering, our people can have improved transactions in banks, get employment easily and the government can ascertain the actual distribution of public amenities to guide our actions and plans.
“We should also know that being able to trace every citizen to their residential places will improve security; you all know the security situation of the country now,” he said.