Lagos — Gombe State Government is to computerise the Ministry of Land and Survey in order to stop shady land deals by speculators and dubious persons.

The State Commissioner for Lands and Survey, Barrister Mohammed Magaji Doho in an interview with ThisDay disclosed that many Government layouts have been intruded by dubious individuals.

According to Doho, although the committee setup by government to verify illegal sales of government plots have not submitted its report but more than 50 government plots were discovered to be tampered with by land speculators.

He said three land speculators have been arrested and handed over to the Police for trespassing on government plots.

Said Doho, "One of the major problems is land speculators encroaching on government plots. By the time the Ministry of Land and Survey is computerised, all these shady land deals will stop. We have discovered that so many government layouts have been encroached upon by individuals. Although the committee set up by government to verify all government plots have not submitted its report, but more than 50 government plots were tampered with.

"I believe by the time they submit their report, it will be more than that. Presently those land speculators we have picked have been handed over to the police for prosecution for trespassing into government land.

The commissioner who hoped the computerisation process would be completed in the next two months said the ministry had also taken decisive action against officials of the ministry assisting land speculators in shady deals.

He said government had developed its 30 to 35 layouts and advised people to desist from dealing with dubious individuals.

Besides, Barrister Doho disclosed that he had sanitized the land ministry since he took over and the revenue generation had increased tremendously.

He said about N100,000 to N200,000 was being generated monthly before he took over but that the ministry at a time generated N4m in a month.

"The revenue goes up and down. It depends on what we have that particular month. For example how many people have come to register their deeds, certificates, pay their grant rent, pay compensation and survey fees and so on", the commissioner stressed.