If you are a land owner and you do not have a proper land title, then you  should make haste to regularize your land.
CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY is evidence that the building/land complies substantially with the plans and specifications that have been submitted to, and approved by the local authority.
That being said, CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY is what makes you a lawful interest holder in the land upon which a property is standing on, it also describes the type of use the land can be put to; commercial, mixed development or residential.
Since 1978, the major legislation regulating the acquisition of land within the country has been the Land Use Act of 1978 which states that all land in a State is to be held in trust by the State Governor for the benefit of all Nigerians.

IN ORDER TO OBTAIN YOUR C OF O FROM THE GOVERNMENT, YOU NEED TO:
1. Apply for land information and get your land information certificate. To do this, you need to pay an application fee at the Surveyor General’s office and provide a chartable survey plan (2 cloth, 2 paper).

2. Purchase a C of O application form (If it’s a residential building, it costs N5,000 but if commercial, it will cost N20,000 in Lagos State).

3. Fill and submit the application form in the Land Use Allocation Commission (LUAC) office with the following supporting documents:

1. Land information certificate
2.  Receipt for land information fee
3.  Receipt for application form
4.  Publication/inspection fee of N10,000
5.  Capital contribution (to be calculated based on size and location of land)
6.  Land purchase receipt/agreement (duly stamped)
7.  Copy of current tax clearance certificate (individuals)
8.  Copy of N100 development levy receipt
9.  Site location sketch
10.  Four passport photographs of applicant with white background
11.  Copy of approved building plan (if developed)
12.  Copy of tenement rate receipt (if occupied) or Land Use Charge
13.  Cover letter addressed to executive secretary LUAC, stating all documents attached, as above and typed with applicant’s address
14.  Acknowledgement slip from LUAC.

When this is done, a letter of confirmation is issued to the Applicant with a plot and block number and the Scheme Officer processes the application for the Certificate of Occupancy, signs off on the file and forwards the files to the Executive Secretary of LUAC.
All these take a period of five days. After this, the Surveyor General provides the Scheme Officer with digitized survey which is processed for two days. The Executive Secretary LUAC approves processing and signs letter of allocation.
The Executive Secretary signs off on the file and sends the file to the Senior Special Assistant to His Excellency on Lands. He or she then vets the entire file and sends it with a covering memo to the Permanent Secretary Lands Bureau.
However, if the file has a query, the message is relayed back by notification. This process takes two days also. When the Permanent Secretary is done, he signs off the memo and sends the file to His Excellency who approves and electronically signs the Certificate of Occupancy. These two processes take a period of four days and should the file have a query, message is relayed back by notification.
Upon approval and signing of the Certificate of Occupancy by His Excellency, He signs off and sends it to the Deputy Registrar for further processing. The Deputy Registrar processes the file further, signs off and sends it to Registrar of Titles for final registration.
The Registrar of Titles then registers the Certificate of Occupancy, signs off and request for its printing. These processes take a total of five days. Altogether, the total process adds to a period of 21days. In these 21 days, the application is advertised to attract objection or no objections before it is finally processed.
Do have a nice day.