DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF LAND OWNERSHIP DOCUMENTATION SYSTEM

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Land use, land valuation, is among the oldest questions in economic theory, (Shavell, 2004). Land is an essential input (factor of production) for agriculture, and agriculture is by far the most important economic activity in preindustrial societies. With the advent of industrialization, important new uses for land emerge, as sites for factories, warehouses, offices, and urban agglomerations. Also, the value of real property takes the form of man-made structures and machinery increases relative to the value of land alone. The concept of real property eventually comes to encompass effectively all forms of tangible fixed capital. With the rise of extractive industries, real property comes to encompass natural capital. With the rise of tourism and leisure, real property comes to include scenic and other amenity values. Starting in the 1960s, as part of the emerging field of law and economics, economists and legal scholars began to study the property rights enjoyed by tenants under the various estates, and the economic benefits and costs of the various estates, (Epstein,2007). This resulted in a much-improved understanding of the property rights enjoyed by tenants under the various estates. These include the right to:
a. Decide how a piece of real property is used;
b. Exclude others from enjoying the property;
c. Transfer (alienate) some or all of these rights to others on mutually agreeable terms;
d. Nature and consequences of transaction costs when changing and transferring estates. 
1.2 Statement of the Problem
1. Keeping records of lands and their owners have been a great task to government and the governed.
2. Access to land information proves difficult that most times people are defrauded due to lack of land information.
3. Illegal sales of lands without the consent of the owner are very common. 
4. Certificate of occupancy is usually a problem. Litigation which results in death and destruction
5. Valuation of land for the purpose of paying tax to government is not achieved. Hence the need for computerization of land ownership document system.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The objective of this study is to develop a software that will keep information on:
1. Land size, Land location, Landowners, Land use information.
2. To facilitate the preparation of certificate of occupancy.
3. To assist the prospective buyers to ascertain the ownership and availability of the property.
4. To enhance the preparation of lease.
5. To forestall land speculation, with its attendant violence, destruction of lives and property.
6. To promote land information security.
The purpose of this work is to make land information accessible to both government and individuals who may like to acquire land properties.
1.4 Significance of the Study
The project work will help in a good number of ways to make land information available to users. The software developed can:
a) Keep a database of all the lands in the state
b) Enable retrieval of land information
c) Guide buyers on how to buy and who to meet
d) Educate buyers on the type of house to build in an area for proper town planning.
1.5 Scope of the Study
This research work is limited to land information storage and retrieval using the ministry of land and survey as a case study. The software developed will be carried out using Visual Basic to manage the database.
1.6 Limitations of the Study
Due to technical difficulties, limited access to confidential data, the information gathered was limited to house acquisition, usage, and property ownership laws. All aspects left out were due to time and also confidentiality of some property documents.
1.7 Definition of Terms
Databases: A systematically arranged collection of computer data, structured so that it can be automatically retrieved or manipulated. It is also called databank.
Fee tail: Under common law, this is hereditary, non-transferable ownership of real property.
Feudal land ownership: a system of mutual obligations under which a royal or noble personage granted a fiefdom