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Introduction
Land has been generally identified as a vital resource for humankind. As a factor of production, which is combined with other resources in the production and manufacturing of goods and services, land is a key asset for the development of any society. As a key asset, land is of great economic significance for the growth and advancement of any country; hence, the extent of the management of land resources in any country could affect its level of economic growth and development (Aderibigbe et al. , 2015). There is abundance of evidence in the literature that economic advancement in any country is underpinned by secure property rights arising from an efficient and transparent land/property rights registration and certification process (see, for example, Deininger and Binswanger, 1994; De Soto, 2000; Galal and Razzaz, 2001; Arnot and Meadows, 2006; Department for International Development (DFID), 2012; Ehwi and Asante, 2016, among others). Given that the need for an effective, secured and transparent land administration cannot be overemphasized, it is pertinent to ensure that land/property rights registration and certification process fit into the dynamics of a global economy. The globalization of businesses have fueled cross-border investments and foreign direct investments by global market players and institutional investors into other countries, other than countries of origin; and as land is a basic resource for economic development, secured land/property rights, evidenced by an effective and transparent land title registration system is an essential requirement upon which such investment decisions are anchored (Quinn, 1997; Baum and Murray, 2011).
Land title registration process is a mechanism for the documentation, formalization and certification of land/property titles and ownership rights. It refers to the system of giving formal or government recognition to proprietary rights the ownership of a parcel of land confers on the individual holder. Griffith-Charles (2004) noted that land titling is the initial process of formally recognizing proprietary rights in land, while land registration is the process of initially recording legally valid rights to land. The study contended that the registration of land title ensures the additional guarantee not only of those rights being valid but also of the transactions regarding those rights being legally recognized by virtue of the recording process. Thus, land title/rights registration system involves the authentication of the...