CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT IN LAND ADMINISTRATION: TRENDS TO DATE: WEST AFRICA S.O. ASIAMA Provost

1. EXPERT GROUP MEETINGTRANSPARENCY IN LAND ADMINISTRATION: A CAPACITY BUILDING AGENDA FOR AFRICANAIROBI, KENYA 29-31, JANUARY, 2007.

2. CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT IN LAND ADMINISTRATION: TRENDS TO DATE: WEST AFRICA S.O. ASIAMA Provost College of Architecture and Planning Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

3. INTRODUCTION • Traditionally, land administration in West Africa, was the preserve of the chiefs and their councils of elders • Land sales outside the community were frowned uponIn almost all the traditional societies • mechanism of share-cropping for agriculture • Direct grants - town lands

4. With colonialism came English, and of course French, concepts of land administration. • The Code Napoleon, coupled with the policy of assimilation, significantly altered the traditional system of land administration in Francophone West Africa • English concepts, like the freehold and leasehold interests, were introduced.

5. In Ghana and Nigeria this was very quietly done and caused little upheavals • Sierra Leonethis caused some disturbances

6. CAPACITY BUILDING UNDER COLONIALISM • Introduction of new methods of land administration, such as surveying and mapping, etc. • Office of Director of Surveys was established. • Legislation introduced • Survey Schools were introduced in Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone

7. POST INDEPENDENCE • After independence greater attention was paid to the land administration system • Flurry of legislation in Ghana • Land Registry Act, 1962 (Act 122) • Administration of Lands Act (Act 123) • Concessions Act, 1962 (Act 124) • State Lands Act, 1962 (Act 125) • Survey Act, 1962 (Act 127)

8. Nigeria also had a number of laws passed but owing to the country’s federal system of government this was less apparent • Land Use, Decree, 1974 significantly affected the legal infrastructure for land administration in the country. • In Sierra Leone not much was done by way of improvements to the legal infrastructure for land administration

9. TRAINING • Improvements in legal infrastructure • need to train requisite manpower • Ghana and Nigeria, with support from the University of London, commenced plans in the early sixties to train land based professionals. • College of Estate Management became birthplace of land administration training in West Africa

10. First batch of students in Estate Management enrolled in Kumasi,1966 • degree programme christened Land Economy diploma version retained the name Estate Management. • University of Nigeria in Nsukka almost concurrently degree programme in Estate Management. • Kumasi started diploma programme in Geodetic Engineering. Department currently awards both first degrees and Masters Degrees.

11. In Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology still trains land surveyors for first degrees and Masters. • University of Mines and Technology (UMat) at Tarkwa is re-modelling its programme in mining survey engineering to include a degree programme in land surveying. • Department of Land Economy awards first degrees in Land Economy and Masters degrees in Land Management. Student numbers are quite high.

12. Up to 1979 • 12 graduates of Geodetic Engineering • 153 graduates in Land Economy. • In 2003 alone the University produced • 100 in Land Economy • 45 in Geodetic Engineering. • Total student Population • Department of Land Economy • 443 made up 23 postgraduates and 420 undergraduates • Department of Geomatic Engineering • 408. • On average both departments produce one hundred land based professionals each annually.

13. Kumasi Polytechnic, which also has a Department of Estate Management, produces graduates with the Higher National Diploma at an annual average of 35. • Kumasi Polytechnic plans to convert the HND programme to B.Tech degree programme. • Survey School will run a Higher National Diploma in land surveying • Kumasi Polytechnic will also run same programme

14. The Methodist University College, a private university, has also laid out plans to start a degree programme in Estate Management.

15. Many Universities in Nigeria now produce graduates for the land sector • University of Nigeria at its Nsukka Campus • Obefami Awolowo University in Ile Ife • University of Lagos, etc. • Comparatively new Universities also produce land based professionals • University of Uyo in Akwa Ibom State • Rivers State University of Science and Technology • Federal University of Technology, Akure. • A number of polytechnics, such as Kaduna Polytechnic, also run courses in estate management and land surveying.

16. PROFESSIONAL TRAINING • Ghana and Nigeria have professional bodies which train the graduates of the university’s and polytechnics for professional practice. • The Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GhIS) • established in 1969 • divided into three divisions • General Practice Division (covering land economists, valuers and estate managers) • Quantity Surveying Division • Land Surveying Division • Membership is in three categories • Fellows • Professional Associates • Surveying Technicians.

17. Maintains a register of surveying firms approved by the Institution. • Admission to the professional grade of membership is by an approved academic qualification and at least two years appropriate post-graduation professional experience. • For admission into the various Divisions a person must have acquired a degree (or diploma) in the relevant field.

19. Professional bodies for the land based professionals in Nigeria. • Nigerian Institute of Surveyors • Nigerian Institute of Valuation Surveyors, • Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, etc.

20. GHANA: THE LAND ADMINISTRATION PROJECT • a clear, coherent and consistent set of land administration policies and laws • a clear hierarchy of customary land holdings and recording of these rights • an efficient decentralised land administration system compatible with cultural usage • an up-to-date, efficient land information system that supports good land records management and transparent transactions in land • a well functioning land market operating in both urban and rural areas.

21. THE CHALLENGES • Greatest challenge for the West African sub-region is the fact that land based professionals are virtually non-existent in Sierra Leone and Liberia • Result of wars • In 2003 Sierra Leone had about 18 Licensed Surveyors all based in Freetown. • Only two had offices, the rest carried their offices in their briefcases. • In addition, there were 15 surveyors operating in government service three based in the Provinces, rest in Freetown. • Many of them had not received any further training from what they received at the Survey and Lands Training School • Access to equipment was a problem for many of them. • The profession of property valuation and land management hardly exists in the country • Country does not have a professional body for land-based professionals.

22. Modern Technology • Access to GIS technology • Quality of training of students

23. CONCLUSION • Capacity building should embrace not just good technological infrastructure but must also seek to build strong institutions, both public and private which would deliver land administration services speedily and in a cost effective manner.

24. Capacity building must address the manpower needs of the societies we wish to serve. Numbers are essential but the quality of the training is a sine qua non. • In West Africa, at least in Ghana and Nigeria, we appear to be producing the required numbers of the manpower needs. It is important that we address the issue of the quality of training the students are receiving.

25. THANK YOU