In over 60 years, Nigeria’s existing land administration systems, fragmented and heavily paper-based, have slowed down major investments, limited access to credit, and left billions of dollars in economic potential locked away as “dead capital.”
This has not only stifled housing delivery and infrastructure development, but also weakened Nigeria’s ability to plan her cities effectively, improve agricultural productivity, and generate sustainable revenues for national and state governments.
Against this persistent malaise, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Musa Dangiwa idealised the Nigeria Land Registration, Documentation and Titling Programme, NLRDTP, a flagship reform determined to change the unfavourable reality.
Anchored in the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, the NLRDTP is designed to modernise land administration, enhance tenure security, boost internally generated revenue, and empower citizens – especially women, youth, and marginalised groups.
By combining state leadership with strong federal support and national coordination, NLRDTP will establish harmonised processes, digitise records, and deliver secure, verifiable land titles at scale.The NLRDTP is a systemic transformation that will touch lives in every
community across Nigeria, boost investor confidence, and lay a strong foundation for inclusive economic growth.
Through this reform, Nigeria will have unlocked billions of dollars in dead capital, strengthen the property tax base for states, facilitate access to affordable mortgage finance, reduce land-related disputes, and create an enabling environment for housing, agriculture, and industrial development. Just as importantly, the Nigeria Land Registration, Documentation and Titling Programme, NLRDTP will ensure that women and vulnerable groups have equal access to land rights, helping to address long-standing inequalities and fostering a more just and equitable society.
A key deliverable of this reform will be changing the lives of everyday Nigerians, who have been badly affected by Nigeria’s fragmented land systems – from small business owners unable to access loans because they lack formal titles, to families caught in disputes over unregistered land, to states losing valuable revenue due to incomplete land records.
NLRDTP is a bold and comprehensive solution to these long-standing challenges. In totality, this initiative is more than a technical upgrade; it is an economic and social empowerment tool. It is by far, the most inventive and economic boosting reform of the President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
By working hand-in-hand with state governments, professional bodies, development partners, and communities, the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, will not only digitise land records and issue secure titles, but also restore public trust in the land administration process.
Let us go back a bit; across the global community and in the most developed nations, efficient, transparent, and accessible land administration is fundamental to sustainable development.
It is the bedrock upon which housing delivery, infrastructure expansion, agricultural productivity, and economic growth are built. Nigeria’s ability to fully harness the potential of land has been constrained for too long by fragmented systems, manual processes, and inconsistent records.
Today, less than 5% of land in Nigeria is formally titled – meaning that the vast majority of citizens, communities, and businesses lack the legal certainty needed to unlock the full value of their land. This situation has profound consequences among which are:
- Economic Dead Capital: The World Bank estimates that Nigeria has over $150 billion in “dead capital” — land and property assets that cannot be used as collateral or leveraged for productive investment
due to unclear or insecure titles. - Low Investor Confidence: Domestic and foreign investors face uncertainty in land transactions, discouraging investment in housing, agriculture, industry, and infrastructure.
- ·Revenue Loss for States: Without accurate, up-to-date land records, states are unable to maximise revenue from property taxes, land use charges, and formal land markets.
- Social Exclusion: Women, youth, and residents of informal settlements are often left without legal recognition of their rights, increasing their vulnerability to eviction, displacement, and economic marginalisation.
- Poor Urban Planning: Weak land governance undermines urban management, infrastructure planning, and climate resilience efforts.
Founded on a state-led, federally supported, nationally coordinated approach that respects the constitutional authority of state governments over land while providing them with the technical, financial, and institutional support needed to digitise and streamline their land systems, Nigeria Land Registration, Documentation and Titling Programme
(NLRDTP) will achieve the following:
- Strengthen tenure security for individuals, communities, and
businesses. - Enable more effective urban planning and sustainable land use.
- Facilitate mortgage lending and credit markets through bankable
titles. - Boost states’ internally generated revenue (IGR).
- Promote gender equity and inclusion in land governance.
In essence, the NLRDTP is not just a land reform programme — it is an
economic transformation initiative, a governance reform effort, and a
social inclusion strategy rolled into one. Its successful implementation will
unlock Nigeria’s land economy, empower citizens, attract investment, and
lay a solid foundation for housing, infrastructure, and agricultural
expansion across the federation, and for this, we say well done Arc.
Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, for being Nigeria’s most innovative and
progressive Minister of Housing.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
