Land Titling Patronage in Cities of Developing Countries: A Situation Analysis of Akure, Nigeria

Abstract The increasing land-use intensity in developing-country cities necessitates land markets supported by active land titling. The study of land titling patronage is critical in a developing country like Nigeria, where the state of development necessitates determining who has rights to lands, for what purposes, and for how long on the available relatively scarce expanse of land. Data for the study was obtained from the Ondo State Ministry of Lands and Housing and the household heads of the purposive selected private layouts/estates within the study area. Data were analyzed using both the Mann-Kendall test and Sen’s slope estimates as well as discriminant function analysis. The findings revealed a monotonously decreasing trend in the demand for titling in the study area which was statistically significant at 0.01 in decreasing order from 2009 to 2018. Further analysis showed that the education level of the head of the household as well as propensity to obtain loan/engage in the subsequent transactions were the most important determinant as to whether a landowner would title land or not. The study will be useful for public enlightenment, policy formulation, policy implementation, professionals and scholars, as well as in academic debates.