The Role of Geographic Information System in Urban Land Administration in Nigeria

Geographic Information System (GIS) is a configuration of computer hardware, software and data specifically designed to capture, store, analyze, manipulate, edit, retrieve and display spatially referenced data. Being a computer-based system, GIS is a robust, reliable and versatile technology that can be adopted in managing both spatial and attribute data in text and graphic form thereby making it most suitable for land administration purposes. This paper posits that the current manual system of filing, recording, storing and retrieval of information relating to land can no longer be sustained in the face of the rising growth of information technology. It asserts that the adoption of GIS technology in land administration will facilitate timely title registration, provide tenure security, ease land application processes and information sharing, facilitate land transactions, reduce corruption associated with land dealings, create efficient land markets and serve as a decision support system to government at all levels in formulating policies relating to land. The paper therefore advocates for the immediate computerization of all land records using GIS technology as an imperative for efficient and effective urban land administration in Nigeria.