May 2014: The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has released a working paper, titled ‘Tenure Security and Demand for Land Tenure Regularization in Nigeria: Empirical Evidence from Ondo and Kano States.’ The paper describes research on customary or statutory legal provisions on household land rights and how these rights are acquired, enforced or lost across generations.

The research examines, inter alia: household land rights; gender-differentiated demand for land registration and certification; perceptions about land rights, land disputes and opinions on the quality of land service delivery; and awareness about the land law and regulations. Most families acquire land through inheritance or gifts from family or other relatives, with the primary form of ownership being sole ownership by the household head, according to the study’s findings.

Land registration is uncommon in both states, according to the respondents. Further, only 5% of households said they were willing to pay for formal documentation of land right certificates. The majority of households said they had other written evidence as proof of their ownership or land occupation.

While households said land related disputes were uncommon, a significant proportion of households, particularly in rural areas, said they feared losing their land from government expropriation.

The report also analyzes perceptions about property rights and tenure security, including on: land inheritance rights of the wife with or without children; future land-related conflicts and risk of government expropriation; confidence in obtaining compensation if the government expropriates land; the relative difficulty or ease of the process of acquiring land from families, individuals or government; and impacts of documenting land rights and survey plans.

The report includes sections on: research objectives; definitions and methods; the historical context of land law and land tenure reforms in Nigeria, including the land rights of women and migrants; Nigeria’s Land Use Act of 1978; the Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reform; the pilot land titling program in Kano and Ondo states; the existing land registration process and procedures; urban land acquisition and building approval processes; and land rights and women.

IFPRI is a part of the CGIAR Consortium. [IFPRI Press Release] [Publication: Tenure Security and Demand for Land Tenure Regularization in Nigeria: Empirical Evidence from Ondo and Kano States]