The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and the World Bank Group have agreed to collaborate on addressing the significant issue of unregistered and untitled land in Nigeria, which accounts for over 90 per cent of the country’s landmass.
This resolution was made during a visit by a World Bank delegation, led by its Vice President for Infrastructure, Guangzhe Chen, to the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, in Abuja.
The initiative aims to unlock over $300 billion in dead capital tied to undocumented land, making Nigeria’s land assets more economically viable.
In a press statement, Salisu Badamasi Haiba, Director of Information and Public Relations at the ministry, highlighted that the collaboration would focus on a National Land Registration and Titling Programme, in partnership with state governments.
“This is very important to our government as over 90 per cent of land in our country is unregistered and untitled. Experts estimate a dead capital of over $300 billion,” the statement read.
Through this partnership, the ministry and the World Bank aim to register, document, and title all land parcels within five years and develop a National Digital Land Information System (NDLIS) accessible to all stakeholders.
The minister, Ahmed Dangiwa, further explained the potential benefits of this initiative, including increasing the formalisation of land transactions from less than 10 per cent to over 50 per cent within the next decade.
He noted that trained and technically competent land registration officers would be deployed nationwide. “We will further increase the formalisation of land transactions from less than 10 per cent to over 50 per cent in the next 10 years and train and deploy technically competent land registration officers nationwide,” Dangiwa said.
Dangiwa also underscored how this initiative could boost state revenue by opening up sources through ground rent, Certificates of Occupancy, and taxes from real estate investments.
These funds, he said, could be channelled towards providing urban services and mitigating the effects of climate change in cities.
“We have examples from states which have implemented proper land registration systems using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Kaduna and Nasarawa are two good examples. These states have not only been able to significantly improve land registrations, but have also generated huge revenues in the process,” he added.
In addition to land registration, Dangiwa highlighted the importance of addressing urban liveability. He said the implementation of the National Urban Development Policy is a key priority under the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
“We have to create the necessary frameworks towards an effective, impactful and sustainable implementation towards improving the management of our urban areas and improving service delivery,” he remarked, emphasising the need for the World Bank’s technical support in this area.
Dangiwa also stressed the urgency of addressing housing value chain barriers to enhance private, affordable housing investments.
The recent flooding in Maiduguri, which displaced more than 200,000 people, underscored the importance of investing in urban resilience, he noted. The rapid impacts of climate change have made many urban centres vulnerable, and Dangiwa stressed the need to develop a framework to address this issue.
Speaking on behalf of the World Bank, Guangzhe Chen stated that the purpose of the visit was to identify areas of mutual interest to prioritise in their collaboration with the ministry.
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He reaffirmed the Bank’s openness to supporting Nigeria on issues related to land administration, affordable housing, sustainable financing, climate change impact, and urban land management. “We have developed some models and worked with some countries in West and Central Africa on urban liveability and resilience, and these models can be reviewed and replicated in Nigeria,” Chen said.
Also as part od the delegation, Country Director of the World Bank, Ndiame Diop, expressed optimism regarding the collaboration, assuring that both teams would fine-tune and develop the outlined priorities into comprehensive programs. by both teams, fine-tuned, and developed into comprehensive programmes to drive the nation’s housing and urban agenda, including improving the mortgage ecosystem, implementing a structured land Titling system, and offering urban planning technical support to help vulnerable cities in Nigeria mitigate challenges of flood and rising heat levels
“The Minister talked about affordable housing delivery, and it’s good to see that there is a functional system in the form of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, which can be supported for enhanced capacity. The issue of land registration which I find worrisome is one area that requires urgent attention. Having 90% of land unregistered can be an obstacle for development in the sector,”
Diop noted. He was pleased to learn that discussions with state governments were already underway, describing state adoption of improved land registration systems as crucial to success.
“We will see how we can also come in and help enrich those conversations so that we can work together to help the country achieve increased land titling,” Diop assured. In his closing remarks, Dr. Marcus Ogunbiyi, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, solicited support from the World Bank in capacity building, emphasizing the importance of technical assistance in ensuring the success of these programs.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Marcus Ogunbiyi, in his closing remarks, solicited further support from the World Bank in the area of capacity building.
