As part of strategies to enhance seamless and integrated land administration processes in the state, the Lagos State Government has introduced the ‘Aumentum’ Land Administration Automation process.
The Permanent Secretary, Lands Bureau, Mr. Kamar Olowoshago disclosed this at a briefing held recently in his office at Alausa while reviewing the activities of the Bureau. He described the Aumentum Solution as a digitised process that allows the Government to automate Land record management and facilitates the registration of property transactions in a more chronological, controlled and transparent manner.
He pointed out that the new digital invention simplifies the way the State Government manages Land information and Property tax revenue. “The State Government has joined the league of global pacesetters by complying with a technology-driven Land Administration process”, he said.
Olowoshago affirmed that by deploying the Aumentum Land Administration solution as a reliable tool to customise and streamline its business workflow process, the State is assured of higher productivity, enhanced revenue generation, security of documents, improved and smarter customer-service delivery.
He added that the Bureau has entrenched a culture of excellence with prompt technology-driven and efficient customer-centric service delivery, stressing that Land Administration in Lagos State has transversed over several decades and stages in its journey towards integrating technology that is all-encompassing and sustainable.
Olowoshago traced the trajectory from the implementation of the Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) in 2013 to the electronic Certificate of Occupancy in 2014 and then to the integrated Land Administration – Automation process introduced in 2019. He noted that Land Administration in the State has evolved to provide an insurmountable standard in Land Management across the nation.
He equally lauded the administration of Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu for the bold steps. “Thanks to Mr. Governor, our processes were cumbersome and time-consuming before the Automation which makes things more efficient and cost-effective. Formerly, directorates operated in silos with the operation of the open filing system which exposed documents to insecurity, forgery, misplacements and other mismanagement”, he said.
Olowoshago further explained that the transformation involved the movement of files from the three main Directorate Repositories to the Digitisation project campus, preliminary sorting of files into Government Schemes and private property, sorting of private property files into transaction files across the 20 LGAs of the State, merging of ‘root title’ processing files with subsequent transaction as encumbered, unbinding of Titles and Deeds from registered volumes for chronological sorting.
Other aspects of the process, he said, include the merging of titles with subsequent Deeds and pre-requisite merged files, encapsulated into property folders as authenticated by the Registrar of Titles, Dispatch of authenticated property folders to Technical partners for digitisation and automation, and receipt of digitised, concluded property folders for archival in designated locations.
He also disclosed that to speed up the digitisation process, the Bureau engaged about a hundred Ad-hoc Staff to discharge the enormous assignment of transforming manual documents, which initially existed in disjointed silos into digital forms.
The Permanent Secretary also revealed that the herculean transformation of manual paper documentation and archival of records has over the period under review transited and metamorphosed into a digital workflow machine, encapsulating and streamlining Property documents for improved customer-service delivery experience and enhanced revenue generation.
Appraising the relevance of adopting ‘Aumentum’ to Land Administration, Olowoshago averred that the new automation system which provides a powerful solution that can be easily customised for any land-related business process has simultaneously transformed over 250 parcels of land in Lagos Metropolis with historical transactional records from paper forms through a herculean manual process to digital form, adding that the transaction turn-around time was shortened thereby reducing operational costs.
Pointing out some key features of the automated business process, he stated that the service can be accessed via: landonline.lagos.gov.ng designed to provide a secure shopping cart experience with data analysis that will allow customers to track application progress, make comments and receive immediate feedback on complaints.
“The introduction of the digital automated process has encouraged collaboration and content-sharing within Government Agencies with the creation of a One-Stop-Shop inquiry to facilitate unhindered access and an end-to-end Land Administration platform that is sustainable and productive thereby reducing the silos of information existing across Ministries, Departments and Agencies,
While confirming that the technological leap complies with the Government’s Agenda of “Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy”, the Permanent Secretary emphasised that the new system will support the compartmentalisation of the Bureau’s business processes and reduce human interface.
