Nigeria’s Land Registration Gap

Less than 5% of the land in Nigeria is formally registered, according to industry reports. That figure has been cited so often it has almost become background noise. It should not be. It is the single most important statistic in Nigeria’s real estate story.

Unregistered land cannot serve as collateral for a mortgage. It cannot attract institutional investment. It cannot be transparently sold or developed without legal ambiguity that slows every transaction and inflates every risk premium.

What Is Blocking Progress

The Land Use Act of 1978 vests all land in state governors. Every transaction requires governor’s consent, a bureaucratic process that takes months and costs significantly. State land registries are in many cases paper-based, poorly maintained, and understaffed.

According to reports, the Federal Government’s Land4Growth programme is working to digitise land records across participating states. That is directionally correct. Whether the political will to sustain it across administration changes exists is the real question.

What It Would Mean for Real Estate

A functioning land registration system would change Nigeria’s real estate market fundamentally. Banks would lend against properly titled assets with greater confidence. Developers would move faster through project preparation. Investors would price risk lower.

Nigeria’s Land Tenure Problem Is the Real Estate Crisis Nobody Is Talking About.

Conclusion

Fixing Nigeria’s land registration system is not glamorous work. But it may be the single highest-leverage reform available to the real estate sector. Everything else, mortgage finance, institutional investment, green building at scale, works better when the legal foundation beneath it is solid.

Nigeria’s Mortgage System Is Broken. Here Is What Fixing It Would Actually Require.

PRAISE SAMSON