of Nigeria’s 923,000 square kilometres of land is without formal titles, making it vulnerable to tenure insecurity, expropriation and dead capital. Dead capital discourages investments and hinders economic growth. Strong property rights are the cornerstone of economic development as they create a stable environment that encourages investment and innovation.more than Ghana and South Africa combined.
Nigeria’s land-based investment faces challenges like weak administrative support, poor data, cultural values and disproportionate compensation. In a bid to address these challenges, Nigeria launched the State Action on Business Enabling Reformsprogramme, a World Bank-assisted initiative, in 2022 to enhance the business environment across the states, focusing on land management, fibre optic infrastructure regulations, business promotion services, and government business transparency.
Nigeria’s business environment reforms led by the presidential enabling business environment council have made progress but its ability to attract domestic and foreign investment remainsNigeria’s development is largely tied to its abundant land resources, but these resources are overburdened with accessibility, sustainability, and opportunity issues due to the country’s current land tenure system.
In agriculture, food security is challenging due to population growth and agricultural land scarcity, exacerbated by high documentation costs, corruption, and long duration, leading to increased property values and unaffordability for the urban poor.Some State governments are introducing e-applications for land documentation to improve processes, but the results have not been as promising as expected, particularly in reducing title processing time.
SABER is a valuable tool that will improve Nigeria’s land administration system, but it will be more efficient when land registration costs are affordable. The huge number of unregistered lands will drastically shrink. Apart from making land registration attractive to real estate investors, secured land will also support food security, reduce poverty and promote shared prosperity among Nigerians – irrespective of economic and social status.