Edo People Are Lucky To Have Okpebholo As Governor, Says Dr. Ikpasaja

By Raphael Okhiria

The people of Edo state have every reason to be happy and thankful to God for having Senator Monday Okpebholo, as the governor of the state.

This assertion was made by Dr. Tony Ikpasaja, the Managing Director of Edo State Geographic Information Service (EdoGIS), during an interactive session with some members of the Association of Community Newspaper Publishers of Nigeria (ACNPN), Edo state chapter who recently visited him in his office.

According to him, Governor Okpebholo whom he described as “a complete Edo home boy”, is highly compassionate about the betterment of the people and desirous of taking the state to a higher level.

Corroborating Governor Okpebholo’s campaign martra of “a new Edo is rising”, Dr. Ikpasaja, stated that the governor was in a hurry to provide the dividends of democracy to the people of the state.

“As a man of the people who joyfully lives among his people, His Excellency Governor Monday Okpebholo, is hungry and in a hurry to put smile on the faces of Edo people through the provision of dividends of democracy.

“Right from his first day in office, he hit the road running due to his desire to perform and leave a lasting legacy. So far, all the projects this government has been doing are people-oriented. They are projects and infrastructure that are beneficial to the masses”, he posited.

Speaking about the activities of EdoGIS, Dr. Ikpasaja, disclosed that things were taking positive shape in the agency, noting that all the leaking pipes in the agency have successfully been plugged.

The new EdoGIS boss, who was appointed by Governor Okpebholo in January 2025, expressed delight for his ability of shutting down the agency’s drain pipe created by the consultant employed by the immediate past government of Mr. Godwin Obaseki to run the operations of the agency.

He disclosed that the Edo State Government has, between February and April, 2025, registered over 9,000 Certificates of Occupancy in the State.

Ikpasaja said the feat was achieved within the period as against the 1,000 recorded by the immediate past government of between 2023 and February 2025.

The Edo-GIS managing director, further disclosed that the agency has recently purchased more sophisticated equipment to improve its productivity and to ensure that applicants’ applications are attended to as quickly as possible.

Dr. Ikpasaja revealed that the agency under his leadership inherited over 7,500 files that were not attended to, saying that the files belong to applicants who want their land to be registered and captured in the EdoGis database.

He however assured the affected applicants that their files for Certificates of Occupancy would be treated and captured into the database, while advising property and land owners to legalize their property.

“As of today, I can boldly tell you that we have captured and processed over 9000 files of certificate of Occupancy. We have also been signing and issuing out Certificates of Occupancy.

“Over 9,000 Certificates of occupancy have been registered from February 2025 to date with the new software as against the 1000 registered from 2023 to February 2025.

“When I came on board I met about 7,500 total files of applicants that were not attended to. It is disheartening that people who pay for registration and government officials will just leave the files there unattended.

“Within the next few weeks or months, we will clear the applications we have, and we will give Nigerians and Edo people their Certificates of Occupancy.

“I also want to assure those that have applied that as far as their certificate is here and being processed, your land is secure because, by our system, nobody can come and process that particular land again.

“The kind of restructuring we did was a total departure from what it used to be before or met on the ground because the staff are operating on international best practices.

“What we have now today does not give you room to keep files because we are working accordingly to the World Bank standards which is the international best practices”, he said

He, however warned that any landed property that is without a Certificate of Occupancy is not a legal asset.

He added that to ensure that all landed property owners are carried along in the administration of land in the state, the agency has opened offices in Auchi and Ekpoma in order to bring its services to their door steps.

Speaking earlier, chairman of the Association of Community Newspaper Publishers of Nigeria (ACNPN), Sir Raphael Okhiria, said they were in the EdoGIS MD’s office to congratulate him on his new appointment which he described as “well deserved”.

Okhiria described community newspapers as a pivotal vehicle connecting communities and rural areas with the governmental activities.

“As publishers of community newspapers in the state, our main duty is serving as a strong bridge connecting rural dwellers with the government’s policies and programmes”, the Edo State ACNPN boss, stated.

To this end, Sir Raphael Okhiria solicited for a synergy between the ACNPN and EdoGIS towards providing adequate publicity for the agency and for the benefit of Edo people, particularly those in the rural areas.

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