Oladimeji Ramon
The office of the Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice on Tuesday unveiled an online search engine for tracking pending land-related lawsuits in the state.
The Attorney General of the state, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, said the initiative was to assist real estate investors to make informed decisions before throwing their money into a property.
He noted that due to lack of information, many a land buyer had paid for a property only to realise that the property was a subject of litigation.
But with the new website, http://ift.tt/2E1G63F, Kazeem said investors could now ascertain the status of any land they want to invest in from the comfort of their offices at the click of a few buttons.
The Attorney General was represented by the Solicitor General of Lagos State, Mrs. Funmilola Odunlami, at the public presentation of the initiative tagged, “Lagos State Real Estate Litigation Database, a.k.a. Lagos Lis Pendens,” in Alausa, Ikeja, on Tuesday.
In attendance were stakeholders in the real estate sector, including the Surveyor General of Lagos State, Mr. Olutomi Sangowawa; the Executive Secretary, Lagos Land Use Allocation Committee, Mrs. Olayinka Oye-Bamgbose; and the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Lands Bureau, who was represented by the Director of Litigation in the agency, Mr. Emmanuel Akande.
Also in attendance was Justice Olaide Olayinka, who represented the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Opeyemi Oke; as well as the chairmen of the various branches of the Nigerian Bar Association in the state.
Speaking through Odunlami, Kazeem said the project was part of the fulfillment of his promise to drive justice system in the state with technology.
He said it would have a direct impact on the economy.
“The Lagos State Electronic Real Estate Litigation System is designed to provide easy access to information for anyone who intends to deal in real estate; it provides information, primarily, on whether the property is a subject of litigation.
“In addition, it offers end-users a platform for filing a lis pendens entry, which may be uploaded on the website, thus giving actual and constructive notice to the public and innocent purchasers,” Kazeem said.
Speaking on behalf of the CJ, Justice Olayinka described the initiative as a timely intervention, noting that courts were inundated with land-related lawsuits.
She said, “It could not have come at a better time; this is exactly what is required in this state because there are so many cases and the problem often is that there’s no way of knowing whether a matter is pending somewhere. But with this database, this will be taken care of.”
She said it was particularly commendable that litigants could, on their own, upload pending lawsuits on the website to keep it updated, stressing that it would enhance justice administration.
Also speaking, Akanni described the project as a welcome development, saying it would make search for information on property less cumbersome and ultimately complement the Federal Government’s efforts on enhancing the ease of doing business in the country.
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