Land Title Delays Keep 90% of Nigeria's Land Locked as Dead Capital, Estate Surveyor Warns
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Chudi Ubosi of estate surveyors Ubosi Eleh & Co says land title delays are keeping Nigeria's wealth locked up, with less than 10 percent of the country's 927,000 square kilometres of land holding adequate legal title.
Chudi Ubosi, the Principal Partner of Ubosi Eleh & Co, a Nigerian firm of estate surveyors and valuers, has called on government at national and sub-national levels to make it easier for Nigerians to obtain land titles, arguing that title delays keep the country's wealth locked up.
He stated that Nigeria sits on 927,000 square kilometres of land, and less than 10 percent of that land area has adequate, registrable, recognisable legal title. The implication, he said, is that the remaining 90 percent is land that little or nothing can be done with.
Ubosi urged governments to create a dedicated position at director or commissioner level, distinct from the Commissioner for Lands, tasked with facilitating and issuing land titles, with annual targets such as 50,000 signed certificates of occupancy. "For every one of us who gets those titles to their properties, it is almost like their passport to financial freedom," he said, adding that titled land can be used to secure bank loans, attract joint venture investment or support development.
Without title, he argued, land simply lies as dead capital. He also cautioned against treating real estate as a commodity that can be produced overnight, noting that supply is inelastic with long development times, from three months to three years, even as Nigeria faces a huge housing deficit.