Only 3% of landowners have valid property titles – Abbas

Speaker, House of Representatives Speaker, Abbas Tajudeen, has said that only three per cent of landowners have valid legal titles, adding that 60 per cent of civil cases are land-related.

He stated these at the opening of a National Land Conference organised by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in collaboration with the Johnbull Amayaevbo Foundation in Abuja recently.

Represented by a member of the House, Cyril Hart, said, “In terms of land registration, the poor outlook of global land titling also reflects on the situation in Nigeria. The World Bank has reported that about 70 per cent of the world’s population lacks a legally registered title to their land. Nigeria has a land size of 923,000 square kilometres, but only three per cent of this land is registered and titled in Nigeria.

“This implies that most small landholders in Nigeria lack a secured title, symbolised by the Certificate of Occupancy. Without a secured land title, they lack the ability to secure bank credit for agricultural activities due to a lack of collateral. Additionally, other challenges that stifle land registration in Nigeria include the high cost of registration, the long duration of registration, corruption, documentation irregularities, people’s lack of awareness of the necessity for land registration, and the sporadic nature of registration.

“Insecure land rights have been identified as a major contributor to global poverty, inequality, political instability and disputes over land ownership.”

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