‘Dearth of surveyors slows land survey in Benue’

The Benue State Special Adviser on Bureau for Lands and Survey, Prof. Jonathan Uever, has said that dearth of surveyors in the state was slowing down land survey processes.

Uever made this known at the accountability press briefing organised by the state council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Makurdi.

“We have acute shortage of staff in the Survey department since government will not recruit now. We have requested staff from the Lands Department to transfer to the Survey department to ease the operations of the department,” he said.

The special adviser also said that the bureau had acquired 5000 hectares of land for the proposed cargo airport in the state and a maximum of 200 hectares in each of the 23 local government areas for warehouses preparatory for the cargo airport.

He said that perimeter survey and valuation of the sites of the lands were ongoing to pave way for compensation of all traditional title holders whose lands had been acquired for the purpose.

According to him, the sum of N17 million had been approved but awaiting release for the beaconing and administration of the Nyiev Mega Layout, adding that the bureau had printed 117 Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) for applicants while also scrutinizing files of C of Os that were printed during the previous administration.