1.1 Introduction
Land is a free gift of nature and a factor of production, land tenure is the name given, particularly in common law system to the legal regime in which land is owned by an individual, due to the fact that keeping records of lands and their owners has been a great task to government and the government access to land Information proves difficult that most times people are defrauded due to lack of Land Information illegal sales of land without the consent of the owner are very common. Land is an essential input (Factors 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 taking 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.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Ministry of lands, survey and urban planning owerri, Imo State is an organization that is in charge of land administration and management in Imo State, it is located at Block 7, state secretariat Port-Harcourt Road, Owerri Imo State.
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 scientific and other amenity values starting in the 1960’s as part of the emerging field of law and economics, economist and legal scholars began to study the property rights enjoyed by tenants under the various estates and the economic benefits and cost of the various estates ( Epstein 2007). This resulted in a much-improved 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 especially in Imo state. Also, the value of real property taking 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 effective capital 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 1960’s as part of the emerging field of law and economics, economist and legal scholars began to study the property right enjoyed by tenants under 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:
- Decide how a piece of real property is used.
- Exclude others from enjoying the property.
- Transfer (alienate) some or all of these rights to others on mutually agreeable terms.
- Nature and consequences of transaction cost when changing and transferring estates.
1.3 Statement of Problem
Investigation revealed the the problems found in Land Ownership Documentation System were;
- Keeping record of lands and their owners has been a great task to government and the governed.
- Access to land Information proves difficult that most times people are defrauded due to lack of land Information.
- Illegal sales of lands without the consent of the owner are very common.
- Certificate of occupancy is usually a problem. Litigation which results to death and destruction.
- Valuation of land for the purpose of paying tax to government is not achieved. Hence, the need for computerization of Land Ownership Documentation System.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of the study is to design and implement a Computerized Land Management Information software that will keep Information. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows to develop an application software that will:
- Provide information about land size, land location, Landowners and Land use Information.
- Assist the prospective buyers to ascertain the ownership and availability of the property.
- Enhance preparation of lease and promote land Information security.
- Forestall land speculation, with its attended violence, destruction of lives and property.
1.5 Significance of Study
The project work will help in a good number of ways to make land Information available to users. The software developed can:
- Keep a data base of all the lands in the state.
- Enable retrieval of land in the state.
- Guide buyers on how to buy and who to meet.
- Educate buyers on the type of house to build in an area for proper town planning.
This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.6 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Design and Implementation of Land Ownership Documentation System using ministry of land and housing Imo State as a case study. The software developed will be carried out using PHP to manage the data base.
1.7 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this institution to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet).
1.8 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 data bank.
Fee Tail: Under common law, this is hereditary, non-transferable ownership of real property.
Feudal Land Ownership: A system of mutual obligation under which a royal or noble personage granted a fiefdom.
Leasehold: Under both common law and civil law, land may be leased or rented by its owner to another party, a wide range of arrangement are possible, ranging from very short terms to the 99 years leases, allowing various degrees of freedom in the use of the property.
