Customary Land Tenure for Spatial Information Management: The Case of Mumuye Tribe, Taraba State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study focuses on the importance of the customary land tenure system and its relevance to the modern spatial information system, the study deals with how documenting traditional facts which occupies space can be linked to modern spatial information technology to solve contending issues pertaining traditional lands. The Mumuye customary land tenure system was used as a case study. Sampled opinions from 16 selected villages of historical importance were used for the study. Personal and interposal interviews were carried out in the selected settlements, the results obtained served as the attributes of the location, whereas, the locations which constitutes the x, y coordinates formed the spatial data. The results were harmonized to give a clear merger of the spatial and attribute information in a geodatabase. The geodatabase was tested by querying to see its workability.  The result shows how traditional lands can be documented for decision-support and planning issues, especially for litigation in the case of contenting land disputes.

Keywords: Customary land, spatial information, Management, Mumuye Tribe