Land Bureau Advises Officials On Misconduct

The Permanent Secretary in the Lands Bureau, Mr. Gbenga Ashafa, has advised the officials of the ministry in Lagos State to shun any acts of misconduct that can hinder the effective and efficient performance of their duties.
He made the advice while declaring open a one-day in-house workshop organized to sensitize the staff on the importance of good conduct and danger in misconducts on the course of performing their duty.
Ashafa explained that part of misconduct include unauthorized disclosure of official information documents, corrupt practices, dishonestly and falsification of records which are punishable under the civil service rules as serious punishment awaits any earing officers.
He emphasized that the oath of secrecy of the civil service should be observed and to moderate their lifestyle which like their colleagues elsewhere in the country would come under the scrutiny of relevant government agencies.
According to him, “concrete steps had been taken to improve the image of Land Bureau and to reflect the new dispensation of the “Open-door” administration of the civilian era. The need to further improve the public perception of land administration in the state is important and vital to the integrity of the state government”
As a result of this, Ashafa changed the participants to discharge their statutory responsibility without favour or hatred but given necessary and speedy treatment to land related matters and maintain cordial relationship with other ministries such as the ministry of justice among others.
While the land officers should not hesitate to liaise  with the relevant agencies like Task Force, Government Monitoring Team (GMT) in dealing with reported cases of encroachment on government's land, Ashafa added that resolution of land disputes among individuals particularly within government schemes and verification of contentions title documents should be given adequate attention.
The permanent secretary, Land Bureau stressed the need and readiness of the Bureau to be a more vigilant and ensure that those who tamper with counterpart/government copies of certificates of occupancy (CofO) are brought to book. Such illegally sourced tittles often end up being sold to unsuspecting people who are neither the genuine allottees nor in possession of valid title documents.