Nigeria’s real estate sector is facing a troubling decline in property title registrations. More than 90 percent of the country’s land remains unregistered resulting in an estimated $300 billion to $900 billion in “dead capital” that owners cannot leverage for loans or investment.This stagnation has serious implications for housing delivery, access to credit, and the spread of informal land ownership.
Despite reforms and digital initiatives, high costs, bureaucratic red tape, and entrenched corruption continue to hinder formalization. Across states like Lagos, Abuja, Rivers, Ogun, Kano, and Adamawa, applicants face lengthy procedures demanding extensive documentation such as survey plans, ownership proof, tax receipts, and environmental permits. Inconsistencies or omissions in required documents often lead to extended delays.
Property owners frequently complain of being entangled in back-and-forth with officials. It was reported that a renovation project in Ikeja GRA in Lagos that was stalled for six months despite full payment and involvement of an insider; one official questioned the legitimacy of the payment before clearing the approval. Cumulative fees at multiple agencies also deter applicants: in one case, the Lagos State Safety Commission demanded ₦450,000 for safety clearance, including hazard assessment and compliance certification.
State timelines for title issuance are rarely met. While Ondo and Ekiti may take six months, Lagos takes between three months and over a year; Edo around 60 days; Ogun three to four years; Osun one to three years; and Oyo two to three months or longer. Despite official promises such as Lagos’s commitment to a three‑month issuance window many applicants remain awaiting approvals, sometimes relying on powerful connections to get certificate signed.
Data from the 2023 Nigeria Living Standards Survey reveals that 71.4 percent of landlords across the 36 states and FCT hold no formal titles, only 13.2 percent have title deeds, and merely 8.1 percent possess Certificates of Occupancy (C‑of‑O). In Lagos, only 246 new C‑of‑O applications have been submitted in six years, with an additional 649 applications for regularization figures that highlight waning trust in the process.
Experts say stalled land title reforms threaten national development. Muyiwa Adelu, former president of the Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria, warned that when approvals drag endlessly, public confidence collapses, stating that technology must streamline, not impede, the system.
Akintoye Adeoye of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria emphasized that land should be an enabler for housing, not a revenue stream, and called for simplified, digital processes.
Government and international bodies are preparing a response. Minister of Housing Ahmed Dangiwa recently said a land registration program, backed by the World Bank, aims to increase formal land transactions from under 10 percent to over 50 percent within ten years through a National Digital Land Information System.
PricewaterhouseCoopers supports this move, estimating the value of dead capital at between $300 billion and $900 billion, and urges streamlined processes and digital registries to activate Nigeria’s latent wealth.
Infrastructure, and economic growth. But success hinges on slashing bureaucratic bottlenecks, curbing official corruption, standardizing and easing fees, and deploying effective digital platforms. Until that happens, Nigeria’s vast land asset—vested in its people will remain powerless, sidelining its developmental and financial potential.
