Doing business: Why Nigeria ranks poorly on registering property —Minister

The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Arc. Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, has explained that Nigeria performed poorly at the last World Bank during business ranking on registering property due to excessive procedures, long timelines, and high costs.

This, he said, created uncertainty for investors and unnecessary hardship for citizens.

The minister, therefore, called on state governments to dedicate between one and three percent of their annual budgets to land administration and systematic land titling.

He declared that credible land governance is the country’s strongest lever for building a trillion-dollar economy.

This was continued in his keynote address at the opening of the 30th Conference of Directors of Lands in the Federal and State Ministries, Departments and Agencies, Dangiwa:

“I strongly recommend and charge that Nigerian state governments allocate between 1 and 3 percent of their annual budgets for land administration and systematic titling during the reform and scaling phase,” he said.

The theme for the conference was: Nigeria Land Titling, Registration and Documentation Programme (NLTRDP): Implementation Mission

Dangiwa explained that International evidence has shown clearly that ministries responsible for land administration around the world operate on about one percent of the total public budget.

Based on these global benchmarks and our own national realities, he said that a sustainable allocation of 0.5 to one percent will be sufficient to maintain digital registries, continue systematic documentation, and keep the cadastra up to date

The minister further stated that half of the allocation must go directly to real service delivery – systematic titling, digitisation, modern registries, surveys and dispute resolution – not vehicles, furniture or overheads.

“If we spend on impact, not overheads, every state will unlock revenue, citizens will gain secure property rights, and land will become a true economic asset, not dead capital.

“And let me say this confidently: the success of the Land4Growth Programme is Nigeria’s surest bet to achieving the one trillion dollar economy,” the minister said.

Dangiwa stated that land would become bankable when citizens can use it for credit, when investors trust the registry, and when states earn sustainable revenue from property markets.

“We will unlock growth on a scale that can transform our national economy. That is how land becomes wealth, and how this sector can power Nigeria’s economic future,” he stated.

He noted the identical challenges across the states include complex manual workflows, fragmented and outdated paper records, corruption risks, tenure insecurity for vulnerable groups, and very low revenue collection despite huge potential.

He also told the participants that, under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, land administration will be treated not as routine bureaucracy but as a strategic economic reform, adding that government had begun to translate the commitment into concrete action.

“I have directed the Director Lands to make sure every director has a copy of the Concept Note and Framework; embrace it and properly guide your state governments to adopt it and work with us at the federal level to implement it” Dangiwa said

“We are not yet where we want to be, but we are certainly not where we were last year. We are moving – and we are moving with purpose.We have within this period introduced the Nigeria Land Titling, Registration and Documentation Programme (Land4Growth) to unlock an estimated $300 billion in dead capital, and are finalizing a partnership with the World Bank and state governments to register, document, and title land nationwide,” he said.