Nigeria’s Property Database Challenge: Towards A Contextual Solution: A Viewpoint

Abstract

A fundamental requirement for the proper management of land is an effective and comprehensive database. This enables optimality in private and public investment decisions, inter alia. But Nigeria lacks this facility as most landholdings are unregistered and no system exists for the collection and management of property transactions data. The resultant poor data accessibility is disadvantageous to the many publics in constant need of accurate and valid data. Effective property databases are important features of developed economies and property markets where operational systems suit national circumstances and deliver expected results. Nigeria’s system registers land at the state governmental level which is neither purely central nor local. This practice has not ensured comprehensive registration, causing transaction frauds and delays in investment decisions.  Also, the absence of property transactions data hinders the function of valuers who are insistent on the establishment of a central database. This paper, a contribution to the property database debate as well as an attempt at a solution, argues that only a contextual system which accords with its lived experience can work for Nigeria, just like for other countries. Therefore, considering that Nigeria is a federal system which is widely criticised as recurrently malfunctioning, the establishment of a central property database may not be contextual, particularly given the existence of as many as three categories of property data: registration, market and industry data. This leads the paper to propose the transfer of land registration from state to local governments which should be empowered for the purpose, and also, for the collection and management of the two other categories of property data. These recommendations are justified by the status of land as a local resource. Also, because federalism is not a centralising concept, so its true nature should be reflected in a contextual and holistic solution to the property database challenge.