Surveyors drag Amosun government to court

…Kick against alleged illegal survey plans in Home Owner Charter

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NIGERIA: THE issuance of Certificates of Occupancy (CsofO) to land owners under the Home Owner Charter has landed the Ogun State government into trouble.

The Private Practicing Surveyors in the Gateway State have picked holes in the survey issued by the government to the land owners, as contained in the CsofO.

Peeved by this observed error, the surveyors have headed to court and the fireworks would begin on Monday, November 30, 2015 at the Federal High Court, Abeokuta, the state capital.

They are asking the court to take a look into the alleged discrepancies and illegality surrounding the issuance of the title documents under the Senator Ibikunle Amosun-led government’s new housing policy.

In the suit number FHC/HB/CS/66/15 the plaintiffs claimed that the sketch plans under the Home Owner Charter were illegal because they do not have on them the particulars of any registered surveyor and were only endorsed with the scanned signature of Surveyor-General of the state.

This step, they averred, is contrary to the law of survey plan in Nigeria.
The aggrieved surveyors further deposed that the defendants, among them the Surveyor-General, lacked the power to disregard the relevant laws and regulation governing the practice of land survey in the country.

In front of the presiding judge, they said that they shall contend that various non-compliance with the relevant laws and regulations governing the practice of land in the country had render the survey plans under the charter program null and void and liable to be set aside by the court.
The surveyors said: “That every plan in Nigeria, including Ogun State, is required by law to be endorsed with the name, date of execution, live signature and seal of the registered surveyor that carried out the survey exercise in the case of a private parcel and name, designation of the survey officer who carried out the site work, the date of such work and live counter signature of the surveyor general and the date of such signature to be endorsed in the case of government layout.”
They said further in their statement of claim: “However, the sketch plans under the Home Charter do not have the

particulars of any registered surveyor and are only endorsed with the scanned signature of the 4th defendants.”

“That the defendants have no power to disregard the relevant laws and regulation governing the practice of land survey in Nigeria,” they further claimed.
The surveyors also claimed that the survey plans issued under the Home Owner Charter program as survey plans are nothing, but polygon on blue papers which were made by non-survey personnel.

According to them, the non-survey personnel did not carry out the field exercise from known government pillar to the parcel of lands.

Similarly, they averred in their 34 statement of claims that the survey exercise and plans are, therefore, not controlled by or made with reference to any government pillar.
The plaintiffs also stressed that only the Surveyors Council of Nigeria has the sole responsibility of issuing beacon numbers in respect of any private property surveyed throughout Nigeria.

All beacon numbers in respect of private properties in Ogun State, according to the angry surveyors, are required by relevant rules and regulation to have “SC/OG as prefix.”
In this respect, they said: “However, under the Home Owner Charter program, the beacon numbers being used on the sketch plans are unilaterally issued by the Surveyor General of Ogun State, and there are no pillars on ground to mark the boundaries.”
The plaintiffs insisted, in their statement of claim, that the survey plans prepared by Surveyor General of Ogun State under the charter is contrary to the relevant laws and regulation governing the practice of survey land in the country.

Therefore, according to the surveyors, the survey plans cannot be the basis for issuing of valid CofO as the identity of the land covered by such certificate is uncertain.

As a result of this, they prayed the court to intervene to correct the illegality carried out by the government of Senator Ibikunle Amosun.