Nigeria plans digital land registration to boost revenue for state governments

Nigerian authorities are in the process of implementation a National Land Registration, Documentation and Titling Program (NLRDTP), which will digitize land registration processes and unravel the real benefits of landed assets.

Recently, a stakeholders’ workshop took place in the commercial capital Lagos to discuss how the federal government can get to effectively implement the idea, Arise News reports.

The outlet quotes the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, as saying through a representative that the new initiative being discussed will “replace our fragmented, opaque, and paper-based system with a digitized, transparent, and efficient national framework.”

The program will be implemented in a phased manner, with the first phase expected to be rolled out in around 20 states and at least one million digital land titles to be issued.

The minister said the envisaged land administration program is not just a reform, but a move that seeks to trigger more internally generated revenue for states as well as the federal government. The program will maintain the sovereignty of states over their lands as provided for in the country’s Land Use Act.

About $150 billion in land capital could reportedly be unearthed with the successful implementation of what has been described as the “Land4Growth” program, which is also expected to substantially contribute to Nigeria’s economic boom.

Among other things, Dangiwa said the land administration reform also intends to strengthen land rights, curb the hassles linked to land registration and increase land titles by about 50 percent which would also increase access to credit, as well as streamline landed property taxation.

Many African countries depend on land for several purposes including agriculture, but land administration in a majority of these countries is analogue, leaving room for a plethora of irregularities.

In a policy research working paper in April, the World Bank urged African countries to initiate land reforms that include the introduction of digital land registers. The paper discussed land management reform efforts in 85 countries and emphasized that digital transformation can improve land registries.

Rwanda, for example, is cited by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) as a case study in digital land management.

In 2022, the Zimbabwean government said it was opting for a biometric system to address land title fraud.

Guinea also announced a similar move that year through a partnership with Datasonic.

Nigeria’s digital land administration initiative follows other earlier proposals in the country about the need for a digital addressing system as part of efforts to strengthen the federal government’s social protection apparatus.

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address verification  |  Africa  |  digital government  |  digital ID  |  land registry  |  Nigeria