The Identification of Challenges towards Land Titling Processes in Rivers State

Land is an indispensable factor in the socio-economic development of any nation and every activity in life revolves around land. Land offers endless opportunities for development and discovery. It is the ultimate source of wealth. But it can only be fully harnessed with appropriate process of documentation, titling and registration. The objective of the study was to identify the challenges militating against sustainable land titling processes in Rivers State, Nigeria. The study adopted the case study approach research design which allowed the use of the mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative research instruments) in the data collection using simple random sampling technique. A total number of 400 questionnaires were administered and 290 were retrieved representing 72.5% response rate. Data collected were analyzed with descriptive statistical tools like the weighted mean and relative important index. The finding of the study revealed that the challenges militating against sustainable land titling processes in Rivers State are high cost of land and processing fees of title documents; lengthy processing time; bureaucratic bottlenecks and cumbersome nature of the process; corruption and ignorance; change in government policy and information barrier. In reflection of these challenges the critical stakeholders should do all within their power to reduce to the barest minimum the cost of land and processing charges, the lengthy processing steps and time and remove the inhibiting institutional bottlenecks in order to facilitate more title registration. The study recommends that there should be a deliberate policy intervention to make easy and less cumbersome the land titling and registration processes by reducing the lengthy processing time, removing institutional bottlenecks and curbing corruption, and the deployment of more officers with wide technological skills.