Nigeria Land Governance Reform: What needs to be done to stimulate demand and support market growth?

Land tenure reform and enhanced tenure security have been given greater attention by African governments, including Nigeria, as policy tools to encourage agricultural growth and alleviate poverty. Land tenure security can generate agricultural investment incentives and lead to increased agricultural productivity through three channels. First, it promotes long-term investment in land by reducing expropriation risk. Second, it encourages investment by lowering transaction costs and allowing more productive farmers to purchase or rent land from less productive farmers. Third, it reduces asymmetric information about land ownership rights, allowing individuals to use their land as collateral for loans, encouraging investment. Less than 3 percent of the land in Nigeria is formally registered, leaving the vast majority of the population to deal with tenure insecurity and its attendant negative implications on land-related investment and agricultural productivity. The Land Use Act (LUA) of 1978 nationalized control of all land, ending private ownership and banning the purchase, sale, or rental of land. The law empowered state governors with management of statutory rights of occupancy for urban land and local governments with control over rural land management, often governed by customary rights of occupancy. This system is dualistic in nature, with customary tenure systems differing from community to community. The customary tenure system regards land as the property of the community and is administered by the village head, chief, or oba for the benefit of the community. All members of the community or family have equal rights to the land, and all household members are entitled to use a portion of the land they gain through inheritance, allocation by chiefs, leasing, borrowing, pledge, or gift. However, women face challenges regarding land ownership and accessibility, with women not entitled to own land under customary law and their land rights dependent on their relationship with men. The LUA formalizes individual land rights in a Certificate of Occupancy, though several studies rank Nigeria as the most difficult and expensive country in the world in terms of registering property. Once registered, subsequent land transactions require the consent of the state governor or local governments, providing officials with undue discretionary power over land allocation, impeding the development of efficient land markets and, in urban areas, housing development. Vagueness in the LUA empowers state governors and local governments to revoke any rights of occupancy for "over-riding public interest," causing rent-seeking and corruption, thereby eroding tenure security. To address these issues and improve efficiency of land administration, the Nigerian Federal Government established a Presidential Technical Committee for Land Reform (PTCLR) in 2009 to undertake systematic land tenure registration nationally and make recommendations to ensure effective and simplified land administration in Nigeria. The titling program was developed with the expectation of revitalizing land markets in Nigeria, increasing investment opportunities, encouraging mortgage lending, assuring security of livelihoods and property, and reducing transaction costs for transfers of property rights. Demand for Improved Land Tenure Security IFPRI research suggests that there is variation in demand for land certificates. Households are generally more willing to pay for land certification if the land is purchased rather than inherited or acquired via a family gift. Urban residents generally have greater awareness of the possibility of registering their land and the contents of land laws and have a higher willingness to pay for a certificate of occupancy. Households that possess a certificate of occupancy are double in urban areas what it is in rural areas. Willingness to pay is also significantly higher for immigrant households than it is for indigenous households. Land of individuals or households acquired via traditional or customary institutions are normally without formal or other legally recognized documentation, but this system seems to be associated with a relative sense of tenure security. Wealth does not seem to play a significant difference in household's willingness to pay for a certification of occupancy, justifying a registration and certification program that treats all participants equally in securing land rights and the amount to be paid for the certificate. Improving Land Management While most households are willing to pay for documentation to safeguard land rights, land registration is still uncommon, suggesting that administration of the certification process can be improved. Assessments of land administrative service delivery in eight Nigerian states found that there is a significant lack of awareness among beneficiaries about the processes and procedures of land administration. Most land administration service providers are centralized at the state level, with the exception of a few LGA offices that serve rural areas. Additionally, the dominant means of access to land administration institutions is direct contact, benefiting urban residents, while online communication appears to be limited. Consequently, it was found that urban residents had greater knowledge of land administration policies. The stark differences in legal knowledge of land administration procedures between rural and urban-based beneficiaries suggest significant information asymmetry that may expose marginalized groups to "elite capture," whereby more powerful groups acquire land rights at the expense of those marginalized. Overcoming this informational constraint is key to improving land administration service delivery. Despite a broad need for reform, progress on implementation has unfolded to very different degrees across Nigerian states. Higher levels of SLTR implementation are measured by whether a state has established the requisite technological and spatial data infrastructure, proceeded with the functional tit