C of O vs R of O vs Governor's Consent: Nigerian Land Titles Explained for Foreign Buyers

If you only learn one thing before buying property in Nigeria, learn the difference between a Certificate of Occupancy, a Right of Occupancy, a Governor's Consent, and a Deed of Assignment. Most of the money diaspora buyers lose in Nigeria is lost because they did not understand what document they were actually being sold, or accepted a weaker title thinking it was a stronger one.

Here is what each document is, what it proves, and where the traps are.

Start with the law: nobody owns land outright in Nigeria

The Land Use Act of 1978 is the foundation of every land transaction in the country. Section 1 vests all land in each state in the Governor, who holds it in trust for the people. In practical terms, you do not buy freehold land in Nigeria the way you would in the United States or the United Kingdom. What you acquire is a right of occupancy, a long-term right to use and occupy the land, usually for a term of 99 years. Everything below is a variation on that single idea.

Certificate of Occupancy (C of O)

The Certificate of Occupancy is the highest tier of land document in Nigeria. It is issued by the state government and signed by the Governor, and it confers a statutory right of occupancy over a defined parcel of land, typically for 99 years. When people say a property has "good title," a clean C of O is usually what they mean.

A C of O is strong, but it is not untouchable. Under Section 28 of the Land Use Act, the Governor can revoke a C of O for overriding public interest, for example to build a road or for a public project. A C of O is also not automatically a perfect root of title. If there were existing interests on the land before the certificate was issued, for example a prior family claim, the C of O can be challenged. This is why a C of O alone is necessary but not always sufficient.

Right of Occupancy (and customary Right of Occupancy)

A Right of Occupancy is the broad legal category the C of O sits inside, but the phrase is most often used to describe the weaker, customary version. A customary Right of Occupancy is granted by a Local Government Authority rather than the state government. It is cheaper, easier to obtain, and significantly more vulnerable in a dispute than a state-issued C of O.

This distinction matters enormously for buyers. A seller may advertise land as having a "Right of Occupancy" and let you assume it carries the weight of a C of O. It does not. A customary Right of Occupancy from a local government is a weaker instrument, and in a contested case it will lose to a properly issued statutory C of O. Always confirm which authority issued the document and whether it is statutory or customary.

Governor's Consent

Governor's Consent is not an alternative to a C of O. It is the legal step that makes a resale valid. Section 22 of the Land Use Act states that the holder of a statutory right of occupancy cannot transfer, assign, mortgage, or sublease that right without the consent of the Governor.

In plain terms: the first owner of a piece of land gets a C of O. When that owner sells to a second buyer, the second buyer does not get a new C of O. Instead, the transfer must be approved through Governor's Consent and registered at the state land registry. A sale without Governor's Consent is, under the Act, void. This is the step most diaspora buyers skip or get told is "in progress," and it is the gap that lets a seller sell the same land twice.

If you are buying land that already has a C of O in someone else's name, the document you are ultimately relying on is the registered Governor's Consent on your transfer, not the original certificate.

Deed of Assignment

A Deed of Assignment is the contract that actually records the sale. It transfers the seller's interest in the property to you and sets out the terms. It is a critical document, but on its own it is only an agreement between two private parties. It becomes legally effective against the rest of the world only after Governor's Consent has been obtained and the deed is registered at the land registry.

A Deed of Assignment transfers the seller's residual interest without resetting the 99-year term. It does not, by itself, give you a state-recognised title. Plenty of buyers hold a signed Deed of Assignment, believe they own the property, and discover years later that consent was never perfected and the transfer was never registered.

Excision and Gazette

For land that originated as family or community land, two more terms appear: Excision and Gazette. Excision is the process by which the government formally releases a portion of land back to its original families, carving it out of government acquisition. The Gazette is the official government publication that records that excision, listing the village and the size of land released. Buying land in an area that is under government acquisition but has not been excised is a known way to lose money, because the government can reclaim it. Confirming excision and the Gazette number is part of verifying that the underlying land was even legally sellable.

Can foreigners hold these titles at all?

Diaspora Nigerians who hold Nigerian citizenship buy under the same rules as any other Nigerian. Non-citizen foreigners face an extra layer. The Land Use Act and various state Acquisition of Land by Aliens laws restrict the interests a non-Nigerian can hold directly, and Governor's Consent for a transfer to a foreigner is mandatory, without it the transaction is void. The common structures for foreign buyers are long leaseholds or holding the property through a Nigerian-registered company. If you are not a citizen, settle the ownership structure with a Nigerian property lawyer before you pay a deposit, not after.

The practical hierarchy to remember

Rank the documents in your head like this. A registered C of O or a registered Governor's Consent on your own transfer is what you want. A Deed of Assignment is the contract that gets you there but is incomplete without registration. A customary Right of Occupancy is a weak title to be treated with caution. A survey plan, receipt, or allocation letter is not title at all, it is supporting paper.

The verification itself happens at the state land registry, where a registered title can be searched and confirmed against the seller's claim. For diaspora buyers who cannot walk into the registry in person, this is where a lawyer and independent verification become non-negotiable, and where platforms like Bektu (https://bektu.com) help by letting you check whether the developer behind a project has a real delivery record before you trust any document they hand you.

Title in Nigeria is a chain, not a single piece of paper. The buyers who lose money are almost always the ones who looked at one impressive-looking document and stopped asking questions.