The Enugu State Governor, Dr Barr. Peter Mbah is said to have ordered that all activities at the Enugu State Lands Registry be stopped with immediate effect. Staff of the Registry now only report to work and sit till close of business without touching any file. According to a source and a highly placed officer at the Registry, “the order is from the Government House. We don’t do anything anymore since about two weeks ago”, she said based on anonymity.

When Drumnewsonline visited the office yesterday, Friday, all the staff were idling about with customers who thronged the office for one issue or the other looking askance.

Drumnewsonline gathered that the government is making plans to introduce digital land registration and processing system to stem land grabbing and multiple sales and registration of titles. The Lands Registry is manual in all its activities and certain documents belonging to individuals have suddenly developed wings. In the twilight of the immediate past administration, the office witnessed a beehive of activities with Government officials and those connected to highly placed individuals having a field day registering, revoking and changing land title documents to suit their cravings. The last administration headed by Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as Governor was notorious for land grabbing and many communities and individuals had their lands wrested from them.

It is not clear when normal official activities will resume at the Lands Registry or the new digital procedure would be in place. The waiting game continues.

Source: Drumnewsonline