Formalising the Informal: Land Titling in Nigeria, the Land Use Act Legacy and the Imperative of Reform

Nigeria possesses one of Africa's most contested land administration regimes. More than four decades after the enactment of the Land Use Act 1978, over ninety per cent of land in the country remains unregistered and untitled, constituting an estimated $300 billion in economically dormant capital. This article critically interrogates the legal architecture of land titling in Nigeria. It examines the origins, operation, and structural deficiencies of the current framework, with particular focus on the Certificate of Occupancy regime, the Governor's Consent requirement, and the compounded burden of bureaucratic dysfunction and legal pluralism. It further evaluates gender-differentiated access to land titles, assesses the emerging digital titling initiatives at federal and state levels, and analyses the constitutional constraints that impede legislative reform. Drawing on comparative experience and the theoretical framework of Hernando de Soto, the article argues for a comprehensive reform strategy encompassing digital land registry infrastructure, a streamlined and time-bound consent regime, constitutional amendment, and the formal recognition of customary tenure. Without such reforms, the promise of land titling as an instrument of economic empowerment, tenure security, and social equity will remain unrealised in Nigeria.

Land titling; Land Use Act; Certificate of Occupancy; Governor's Consent; land reform; customary tenure; Nigeria; dead capital; digital land registry.

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