Borno, ACRC to secure land titles for Maiduguri low-income residents

The Executive Secretary of the Borno State Geographic Information Service (BOGIS), Adam Bababe, has reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to improving land management and urban development.

Bababe, who disclosed this during a courtesy visit of the Chief Executive Officer of African Cities Research Consortium (ACRC), Prof Diana Miltin, in Maiduguri, said efficient land management would ensure the low-income residents own land titles, including certificates of occupancy (C-of-O).

While highlighting the agency’s efforts in modernising land administration, he stated, “We’ve digitalised land administration records to simplify land titling processes across the state.”

He said this would encourage more people to legally own land for residential and commercial uses. “The Systematic Land Titling (SLT) programme launched in 2022 has significantly increased the conversions of customary land titles to statutory ones,” he stated.

According to him, BOGIS is working to integrate statutory and customary land rights into a single digital database for efficient land administration. He said the data capture has been completed for Maiduguri’s low and medium-density areas, adding that the exercise for undeveloped and high-density neighbourhoods is still ongoing in the Maiduguri metropolis.

Bababe sought the support of ACRC to train BOGIS staff, particularly in the areas of Geographic Information Systems (GIS).Mitlin explained that ACRC is a project under the University of Manchester funded by a Global Development Institution (GDI). “The institution focuses on research-driven urban solutions, governance and economic development.”

She pledged to support 100 women in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council (MMC) and Jere Local Council to secure land titles with payments of application fees for an additional 1,000 residents in Maiduguri. Mitlin also commended the agency for its proactive approaches to land ownership among women to empower them to boost their livelihoods.