THE STATUS OF LAND RECORDS SYSTEM AND ITS RELEVANCE TO INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

1
THE STATUS OF LAND RECORDS SYSTEM AND ITS
RELEVANCE TO INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN
NIGERIA

• Paper presented by
• Surv. C. E. Oboli (fnis) Director, Cadastral
  Surveys
• Surv. A. O. Akpoyoware (mnis) Assistant Chief
  Surveyor,
• Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation
  (OSGOF)
• Cadastral Survey Unit Federal Ministry of
  Environment Housing and Urban Development,
  Mabushi, Abuja-Nigeria
• At the 2nd Annual African Conference and
  Exhibition on Geospatial Information Technology
  and Applications Map Africa 2007
• Cape Town South Africa.

2
Outline of Presentation

• Introduction
• The Colonial system of Land Administration
• The Present system- after the introduction of the
  Land Use Decree
• Developments in the management of Land
  Administration Records
• Impact of the Current Status of Land records on
  Land management, Infrastructure and Governance
• The Future-the way forward
• Problems of new developments in Land Reform
• Recommendations
• Conclusions

3
Introduction

• Land records required basically for
• publicity for a private purchaser of land
• the state know land available for taxation
• Spatial and attribute data facilitate planning,
  resource control and infrastructural development
  multisectorally
• A review of land records and large scale maps
  from colonial era to the present day
• Land Registration - a system for secure,
  efficient transfers and protection of ownership
  rights

4
Introduction
Infrastructures are the essential elements of a
country which provide the framework to support
public works eg utility services, CADGIS ongoing
FHMEHUD project to produce Cadastral spatial data
Health Facility
Power Energy
Transportation
Urban Planning
Registry FELIS
Schools
Water
CADGIS provides the foundation for infrastructure
development
5
Introduction (continued)
The Federal Republic with area of 923,768km2 has
large scale maps coverage of less than 3 Lack of
information on land affects the planning and
citing of infrastructures
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Introduction (continued)

• Land records Justification
• Facilitates land transactions
• Security for the owner and others with land
  rights,
• Stimulates investment and development
• Reduces disputes and litigations
• Engenders better land use management
• Public control and land policy measures also
  require land records.

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Status Summary-Colonial system of Land
Administration

• Manual record keeping in use by all land related
  sectors in Nigeria was maintained by keeping
  registers and files.

8
Status Summary-Colonial system of Land
Administration

• Land registration began with the arrival of the
  Europeans - influenced by the land tenure system.
• Before Land Use Act of 1978 land tenure
• - Freehold system in the South
• -in the north the land was held in trust by the
  traditional leader and given out by leasehold

9
Progress-The Present after introduction of Land
Use Decree

• The Land Use Decree (Act) of March 29, 1978
  Chapter 202 of the Laws of the Federation of
  Nigeria, has divested land ownership from
  individuals to the Federal and State Governments.
• Result
• -increased demand for title registration
• - need for more surveys and documentation
• - land registration limited to urban areas

10
Progress-The Present after introduction of Land
Use Decree

• Land Registries document certain interests in
  land, spatial extent, encumbrances and ownership
  rights and data
• Analogue land record system led to lack of
  integrity and transparency as well as trust in
  all transactions on land in many parts of the
  country
• Registration confers security of tenure to the
  landowner and aids proper adjudication.
• Land registration and management is spread
  between several government departments like many
  countries

11
Developments in Land record management

• The immediate past President of the Federal
  Republic of Nigeria shortly after assuming office
  in 1999, directed the computerisation of all
  Federal Government lands and records.
• Directives include

Compilation of personal data of applicants
Storage and retrieval of cadastral information
Security and control of access to confidential
land information
12
Developments in Land record management

• The efforts at improving the Cadastre in the
  country can be seen in Lagos, Kano and Enugu
  states as well as Abuja, FCT. Cross River state
  also embarked on data conversion and
  computerisation

13
Developments in Land record management

• Lagos State launched the Electronic Document
  Management systems (EDMS) for improved services
  land registry-Most developed in the country
• Abuja Geographic Information system (AGIS) set up
  in 2004 as a S.D.I. for Abuja, FCT blazed the
  trail in electronic filing system
• Ogun state in effort to overhaul the system
  state governor Chief Gbenga Daniels visited Her
  Majestys Land Registry for consultation on the
  application of modern technology to land
  administration and registration systems.

14
Developments in Land record management

• Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation
  (OSGOF) and the Cadastral Unit of the Federal
  Ministry of Environment, Housing and Urban
  Development proposed to carry out a National
  Cadastral and Township Mapping programme
• OSGOF has an on-going exercise to revise the
  150,000 Topographic Mapping series with a total
  of 1370 map sheets when completed this will be
  used to update the 1100,000 series

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Impact of Land Records on Land management,
Infrastructure and Governance

• Social and economic growth and stability of any
  nation depends on the ability of government to
  manage its land resources for the benefits of its
  citizenry.
• Lack of suitable large scale maps creates
  difficulty in design and implementation of
  infrastructures
• A lot of energy, time and resources is spent on
  land disputes-lack of available large scale maps

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Impact of Land Records on Land management,
Infrastructure and Governance

• Activities on land with inadequate documentation
  led to poor land utilization and in some cases
  distortion of master plan in Abuja FCT resulting
  in demolition in suburbs and city centre.
• Honourable Minister of Environment Housing and
  Urban Development, Arc. Halimat T. Alao
  attributed current poverty situation in the
  country partly to the low level of land rights
  infrastructure

Government building worth 7,936,507(USD)
R55555555(ZAR)
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Impact of Land Records on Land management,
Infrastructure and Governance

• Infrastructural development in the country has
  been piecemeal Geo data and GIS can be used
• Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) presently
  supplies about 3,000 megawatts as opposed to
  estimated requirement of 10,000 megawatts, to
  strategise for improved supply PHCN plans a GIS
  pilot project with a view to improve energy
  efficiency

Critical areas of this administrations 7-point
Agenda
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Impact of Land Records on Land management,
Infrastructure and Governance

• Land Use Act of 1978 disregarded the importance
  of the Surveyor and survey plans and the
  Registered Surveyor in Land matters.
• The previous Military administration used the
  Land Use Act as an over-riding law on land
  matters by ensuring the Act was entrenched in
  the Constitution

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The Future-and the way forward

• Federal Ministry of Environment, Housing and
  Urban Development has undertaken the
  re-organization and computerization of the
  Federal Lands Registry under the Phase I of the
  Federal Land Information System (FELIS project)
• Presently, FELIS has about 10,000 entries where
  over 10,000,000 are expected
• FELIS database to be linked with the Zonal
  offices of the Ministry across the Country. FELIS
  capable of producing 500 C. of O. daily if survey
  is available.

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The Future-and the way forward

• Early in year 2006 the Ministry signed a
  Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Her
  Majestys Land Registry (HMLR) under which the
  British government will provide technical and
  financial support for improvement of land
  administration in Nigeria
• National Technical Development Forum (NTDF)
  approved by the National Council on Housing and
  Urban Development, created in response to the
  need to establish national standards of land
  administration
• African Geodetic Reference Frame (AFREF), will
  unify many national co-ordinate reference frames
  of Africa into a single frame based on the format
  of International Terrestrial Reference System
  (ITRS).

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The Future-and the way forward

• Cadastral Survey Unit has an on-going CADGIS
  project with consultant Sivan Design to provide
  spatial input required for FELIS, eventually
  leading to compulsory registration and
  e-Certificate of Occupancy

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The Future-and the way forward

• 7-point agenda initiated to reform economic
  development includes land reforms to ensure
  equitable use of nations land assets to be
  exploited through records
• The Cadastral and Township mapping program need
  to be given the serious attention they deserve to
  throw up more data at large scale on the unmapped
  97 of Nigerias 924,768 km2 land area, by
  adequate financing of this vital infrastructure

Wealth Creation
Food Security
Land Reforms
Power and Energy
Transport
Education
Security
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Problems of new developments in Land Reform

• - Illiteracy level
• - Computer Competency level
• -Non performing Infrastructure
• Epileptic Power supply
• Its effect on hardware
• Lack of local maintenance outfit
• Effects on other sectors-comparison with
  communication (GSM overstressed network)
• Need to enforce guidelines for optimal performance

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Recommendations

• The contracts for the computerization of land
  records and registries should be guided with
  specifications.
• States in the country need to embark upon
  computerisation of land records, as well as
  capacity building for planning and infrastructure
  development
• Infrastructures should be designed based on
  existing updated/current geodata

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Recommendations

• Need for regular enlightenment campaign for the
  public on the importance of land records
• Surveyors and geodesists should be involved in
  the computerization of land records in view of
  the need to address problems of reference
  framework and zones transformation
• The effect of re-certification would provide
  documents that confer security for land titling
  this would be helpful to people taking mortgages,
  and increase activity in real estate development
  because the banks would make finance available
  and ultimately improve housing delivery

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Conclusions

• Fundamental knowledge on land in a country is
  stored in the existing land records.
• Large scale maps, plans, land records are
  important and needed for citing of
  infrastructure
• Low level of cadastral mapping in Nigeria and
  mostly available in analogue format.
• Manpower training and development needs to be
  embarked upon within organisations acquiring and
  maintaining land records.
• Surveyor input in production of land records
  cannot be overemphasised in the area of
  harmonisation of survey plans and preparation of
  legal documents for titling.
• The proper documentation of land records and
  transactions has a direct impact on service
  delivery in such sectors as health, food
  security, education, transportation and the
  environment.

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References

• 1 Larsson, Gerhard (1991) Land registration and
  cadastral systems Tools for land information and
  management, Longman Group UK
• 2 Ayeni, Winston (2007) Infrastructure
  Information System Paper presented at Survey
  Coordination Conference and Advisory Board on
  Survey Training, Abuja, Nigeria
• 3 Oboli, C. E. Akpoyoware, A. O. (2005) Land
  registration reforms in Nigeria-Past, Present
  Future The Surveyors Perspective Presented at
  the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors AGM Kano,
  Nigeria May 4th 6th 2005
• 4 Arnot, B Meadows, J (2006) Innovations and
  Land Administration Process- Reforming the Land
  Registration Process in Nigeria-Promoting Land
  Administration and Good Governance 5th FIG
  Regional Conference, Accra, Ghana, March 8-11,
  2006
• 5 www.independentngonline.com Adedeji,
  Christopher (2007) Daily Independent online FG
  Attributes Poverty level to Infrastructure
  deficiency 13th Sept, 2007 accessed 27th
  September, 2007

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References

• 6 www.fugro.com Nigerian Airborne Survey GIM
  International Magazine for Geomatics (2007)
  October 2007, Volume21, Issue 10
• 7 Federal Government Tender Magazine(2007)
  Geographical Information System pilot scheme for
  some Business units September 17-30, 2007
• 8 Oboli, C. E. (2007) Rural and Urban
  Development in Nigeria Issues, Problems and
  Options-The Surveyors Perspective Paper Presented
  at the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors AGM Jos
  (Tin city),Plateau state, Nigeria July 3rd -6th
  2007
• 9 Njepuome, A. P. C. (2007) African Geodetic
  Reference Frame (AFREF) Opening remarks at
  Stakeholders Forum Rock View, Hotel Abuja,
  Nigeria. 26th September, 2007
• 10 Oboli, C. E. Nwilo, P. C. (2006) The
  Status of Cadastre and Land Management in Nigeria
  Presented at Land Information Systems Symposium
  held at UNECA, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 4th-8th
  December, 2006

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Thank you for your attention