1. PETER ADENIYI, ADEWALE AKINGBADE and ADEOLUWA AKANDE Systematic Land Titling and Registration Team, Ondo, Nigeria Poluade1@yahoo.com Paper prepared for presentation at the “2015 WORLD BANK CONFERENCE ON LAND AND POVERTY ” The World Bank - Washington DC, March 23-27, 2015 SOLUTIONS FOR OPEN LAND ADMINISTRATION (SOLA) SOFTWARE – CUSTOMIZING OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE TO SUPPORT THE SYSTEMATIC LAND TITLING REGISTRATION PILOT PROJECT IN ONDO STATE, NIGERIA. IN ONDO STATE, NIGERIA. POA

2. Presentation Outline  Objective of the paper  Brief overview of land governance situation in Nigeria  Adoption and Piloting of Systematic Land Titling and Registration (SLTR)  Adoption and customization of Solution for Open Land Administration (SOLA) for SLTR  Concluding Remarks  Acknowledgements POA

3. Objective of the Paper  To demonstrate how the adoption and customization of SOLA in the pilot implementation of SLTR has assisted in eliminating most of the human-induced problems and difficulties of existing land registration and administration system in Nigeria.  To further demonstrate how the automation of land registration using SOLA has improved systems’ efficiency, standardization, timeliness, data sharing and coordination POA

4. Overview of Land Governance situation in Nigeria  In over 130 years when formal land registration started in Nigeria, not more than 3% of the land in Nigeria has been formally registered.  The existing mode of first time land registration deployed throughout the federation, based on sporadic registration of interests in land, is incapable of meeting modern demands for the creation and registration of titles in land in a timely, participatory and transparent manners  The process of land titling and registration today is not significant in many states and more or less restricted to land in the state capitals and a few urban centres. This is a disincentive to non-urban residents.  Nigeria ranks among the worst countries in terms of difficulty of registering property  Lack of functional registries in most states of the Federation POA

5. Adoption and Piloting of SLTR  Arising from the difficulty of registering land, the Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reform (PTCLR) adopted for Nigeria, SLTR – a process by which rights to land are ascertained and documented. A Certificate of Occupancy (a documentary evidence of Right of Occupancy) is issued to the owner by a state Governor in accordance with the Land Use Act of 1978  SLTR establishes three basic things  the person(s) or entities that own land rights  the land rights that exist including any third party rights that have been or are capable of registration (e.g. mortgage, leases, easements) and  the location and the extent of the land POA

6. SLTR Guiding principles  The SLTR activities are conducted in a transparent, participatory and cost- effective manner, according to the following principles TransparentA public process with nothing hidden Participatory Everyone is included; no one is excluded Confirming Existing land rights are being clarified and confirmed; new rights are not being created Fair All participants are treated equally Legal Consistent with and conforming to all land laws Replicable Can be implemented in any state Low cost Affordable for states and participants Certain Results are not contestable in law POA

7.  The steps involved in achieving the above objectives are summarized SLTR, based on the principles and the steps is being piloted in several states in Nigeria both by PTCLR and GEMS 3. Ondo State Pilot is used in this paper to demonstrate how SOLA is being used. POA

8. Adoption and Customization of SOLA  SOLA is the software tool being used for SLTR in Nigeria. SOLA is being used to support both the SLTR activities and the on-going operations of the land registration system. The implementation of SOLA is being supported by FAO and GEMS3.  SOLA has been customized to have the following minimum generic capabilities specifically for SLTR: - Workflow management (process definition, rules, validation) - Custom interface (input, management, output) - Access control, security, audit trails and backup - Spatial data input and editing (raster and vector) - ISO 19152:2012 compliance (land administration domain model). POA

9. Adoption and Customization of SOLA Cont’d  The workflow process in SOLA has been specifically customised to include: registration functions, GIS and cadastre functions and administrative functions.  The registration officer has access only to the data entry module of the software while the GIS officer has access only to the parcel digitization and editing part of the software.  The SLTR officers have access to administrative functions giving approvals to work being done by both the GIS and registration officers and have exclusive access to sensitive functions such as title printing.  This customised access control helps to provide some level of security. Also, the application of customised automated business rules in the processing of applications for registration or cadastre change, not only allows application processing to be streamlined, but reduces the need for the land office staff to apply discretion; and hence reduces the possibility of coercion or persuasion for land office staff to behave inappropriately. POA

10.  The business rules make it impossible to print the title for an application that have neither gone through a 30 day period of public display nor received the approval of the SLTR officer. All these and more help to achieve systems’ efficiency which is a requirement for good land governance.  Accessibility to land records, which is one of the challenges to good land governance in Nigeria has been customised and implemented in SOLA. Applications and documents can be searched using various parameters including parcel numbers, application numbers, location, claimants name, claimant address etc. This search functions are also extensible to the web using SOLA web services. This alone represents a huge paradigm shift in title search which is presently being done manually in land ministries across the nation. Adoption and Customization of SOLA Cont’d POA

11. SOLA Cont’d Component view model - SOLA Software (McDowell, 2011) POA

12. SOLA Cont’d Packages of SOLA desktop and dependencies (McDowell, 2011) POA

13. SOLA Cont’d Packages of SOLA Admin and dependencies (McDowell, 2011) POA

14. SOLA Cont’d Application Life Cycle in SOLA POA

15. SOLA Cont’d SOLA MAP VIEWER: showing UPIN (Unique Parcel Identification Number) POA

16. StateLGAWard-sectionParcel ODAKR0145 OD/AKR/01/45 Unique Parcel Identification Number (UPIN) example SOLA Cont’d POA

17. SOLA PUBLIC DISPLAY MAP 06/12/14 17:55 SOLA Cont’d POA

18. PUBLIC DISPLAY LISTING SOLA Cont’d POA

19. CofO SIGNING AUTHORIZATION LISTING SOLA Cont’d POA

20. PARCEL PLAN as approved by SURCON SOLA Cont’d POA

21. CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY SOLA Cont’d POA

22. SOLA Generated Ownership Gender Report SOLACont’d POA

23. No. SLTR Activity in LGAs in Ondo state AKURE SOUTHAKURE NORTHIFEDORE TOTAL Total to date (13 November 2014) 1Parcels demarcated with GPS872630302902 14,658 2Parcel records gathered414630302833 10,009 3Parcels digitized in SOLA753328842902 13,319 4Claim forms lodged in SOLA399925502410 8,959 5Disputes lodged060 6 6Parcels in public display000 0 7 Parcels completed public display 266815901325 5,583 8 Parcels ready for public display (minus control area) 362254800 1,416 9Certificates paid for9779 113 11Certificates printed000 0 Update of SLTR Activities in Ondo State SOLA Cont’d POA

24. Concluding Remark  The adoption and implementation of SOLA in support of SLTR has taken care of some of the requirements for good land governance especially in terms of timely, participatory, transparent and affordable procedures.  The nationwide adoption of SLTR and SOLA is faced with several challenges including the following:  Lack of adequately shared vision of the strategic and empowering importance of SLTR and SOLA  Inadequate mobilization and availability of requisite resources at the right time  Limited capability, especially with regards to SOLA software developer, GIS expert etc.  Very weak institutional arrangement which is compounded by lack of legislated body as prescribed by law for land matters at the state and LGA levels.  SLTR with SOLA has the potential to revolutionize land administration in Nigeria by creating a sustainable platform for the socio-economic empowerment of Nigerians. POA

25. We acknowledge the admirable support of the World Bank, GEMS 3 funded by DFID and UNFAO for the adoption and implementation of SLTR and SOLA in Nigeria. Thank you Acknowledgement POA