Recent Trends in Land Administration: Societal Needs, Technology and Organization Regional Workshop concludes at AFRIGIST in Ile-Ife, Nigeria
GLTN in partnership with the African Regional Institute for Geospatial Information Science and Technology (AFRIGIST), Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation – University of Twente (ITC) and Dutch Kadaster jointly organized a regional learning event on “Recent Trends in Land Administration: Societal Needs, Technology and Organization”. The bilingual (French and English) workshop which brought together more than 20 participants from West and Central African countries was held at AFRIGIST in Ile-Ife, Nigeria from 25th – 29th September 2017.
The Workshop was officially opened by Surv. Ebisintei Awudu, Surveyor General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and 1st Representative of Nigerian Government on AFRIGIST Governing Council. Speaking during the opening ceremony, Surv. Awudu emphasized the importance of the event in bridging capacity gaps in the area of land administration and cadastral management in the region and looked forward to more of such collaboration in the future.
Other delegates present during the opening ceremony included the Executive Director AFRIGIST Dr. Adewale Akingbade, experts and resource persons, members of AFRIGIST’s Governing Council, representatives of the host university Obafemi Awolowo University, the Representative of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), the Representative of the University of Abobey-Calavi, Benin Republic, the director of the Early Warning Directorate of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and a representative of the Nigerian Army.
The workshop was a great opportunity for joint learning and sharing of innovative approaches to land administration and registration from Africa and other parts of the world. Presentations emphasized the need for innovative land tools and approaches towards achieving sustainable development.
Participants had the opportunity to learn about a number of GLTN tools and approaches as Fit-for- Purpose Land Administration, the Continuum of Land Rights, Gender Evaluation Criteria (GEC), Land Based Financing, Participatory and inclusive Land Readjustment (PILaR) and Costing and Financing Land administration Systems (CoFLAS). Hands-on practice on the use of and application the Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM) was also conducted.
One of the highlights during the workshop was a presentation made by a Senior King attached to the Ooni of Ife, the Alagbon of Agbonbili on “The traditional ways of Land Administration and Allocation in South Western Nigeria”. It highlighted the history of movement of people to and from Ile-Ife and the traditional ways of land allocation and management in Yoruba land.
The presentation was made on behalf of His Imperial Majesty the King Ooni of Ife. A short visit to the Palace of the Ooni of Ife was then undertaken immediately after the lecture by His Royal Highness.
The workshop participants drawn from different backgrounds (Land Surveying, Urban and Regional Planning, Geography, Cadastre, etc.) committed through their action plans to make use of the acquired knowledge and skills in addressing land administration challenges in their respective organizations and home countries. They also reiterated the need for continued collaboration and sustained roll-out of such training programs in order to build a critical mass of African land professionals who can initiate and sustain urgently needed land reforms.
Great! I have the honor and privilege to express my grateful thanks and appreciation to GLTN. The contribution and participation of GLTN made the regional workshop of last week a great success.