Advancing Land Tenure Security Measurement Through Geospatial Methodologies: Original Framework Development and Application in North West Nigeria

Land tenure security is a foundational determinant of agricultural investment, female land rights realisation, and economic development, yet existing measurement methodologies rely predominantly on subjective household survey instruments that fail to capture the spatial dimensions of tenure and the geographic heterogeneity of security within and between communities. This dissertation makes an original theoretical and methodological contribution to land tenure security measurement by developing and applying a spatially explicit Geospatial Land Tenure Security Index for rural communities in North West Nigeria, specifically in Katsina and Zamfara States. Building on the continuum of land rights conceptual framework and spatial vulnerability theory, a hierarchical index structure integrating cadastral coverage density, conflict event proximity, gender-differentiated land access data, boundary demarcation quality, and institutional reach indicators is theorised and operationalised. Cadastral coverage data are derived from Sentinel-2 imagery and GPS field surveys, conflict proximity from geo-coded ACLED events, and institutional reach from survey data collected at 780 households across forty purposively sampled communities. Structural equation modelling with spatial autoregressive extensions tests the proposed index construct validity against agricultural investment and women's land access behavioural outcomes. Cross-validation with independent household tenure perception instruments demonstrates convergent validity. The dissertation establishes the GLTSI as an original geospatial measurement instrument with demonstrated validity and identifies priority policy intervention communities for the North West Regional Land Administration Programme. Keywords: land tenure security, geospatial index, North West Nigeria, cadastral coverage, spatial measurement.