Land administration, Nigeria’s development

THERE is so much more to land than meets the eye. The most fundamental component of our planet, land plays a crucial role in various natural processes and provides a home for countless species. The importance of land as a resource for human existence and development cannot be overstated. Everything on earth, every technology and invention takes off from the land. Land is essential not only for the survival and prosperity of humanity but also for maintaining terrestrial ecosystems. It is the foundation of the economy, providing life-support structures and systems for the realization or acquisition of the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. For infrastructure and construction, land is required, needed and helpful. All of the roads, flyovers, stadiums, and structures on the earth are done on a piece of land. Land is a very essential means of transportation, without which it would have been impossible for people to move from place to place. All the minerals we have today, crude oil, gold, coal, limestone and several others have their source from land.

Land so pervasively underpins human activity. It is a major factor of production. However, its availability and supply are fixed, and cannot be increased because it wasn’t made by man, but rather, given freely by nature to him. It is not surprising therefore that land has been at the centre of most conflicts in the society. Land-related issues figure into many violent disputes around the world and usually play some role during war and civil violence. History is replete with cases of conflicts over land in every part of the world. Perennial violence across communities in Africa, including Nigeria is tied to competition over scarce fertile land and poor resource governance. Disputes over access to land and valuable mineral resources have led to wars, leading to loss of lives and property, destruction of the economic base of the belligerent communities, high crime wave, and historical revisionism of the areas. Even when the conflict seems to have ceased, the issues at stake remain unresolved.

But then, land issues underpin development goals, and there has been increasing awareness over the years, of the relevance of land tenure issues to food security, agriculture, housing, transport, energy and extractives, climate change, rapid urbanization, informality and indigenous people’s rights, prompting nations all over the world to put in place structures and measures to regulate land ownership, allocation of land for various purposes of development, and more importantly measures to balance the interests of the government, the land-owning class and the class that is landless. During the pre-colonial epoch, land in the traditional rural areas of Nigeria was seen and regarded as common property. However, land resources have become socio-political and economic issues in Post-colonial Africa, and the quest for the expansion of the prevalent land markets and the pressures of modernization explained the conversion of customary lands into leasehold lands.

Land administration and policies are intended to play a crucial role in reducing conflict over land ownership rights and environmental degradation, as well as ensuring efficient land use, ownership, and management. Like other countries in the world, Nigeria realised the necessity to engage on the reform of the land resources. Therefore, efficient administration and management of land ownership, holding and uses requires and is premised on sound land policy and its effective implementation. Land policy is essentially aimed at ensuring land accessibility to citizens of the society as well as protection of their interests. The Land Use Decree (Act) which was promulgated in March 29, 1978 by the then Federal Military Government abolished the existing land tenure systems and vested all land in each state of the federation solely in the governor of the state. The uniform Land Administration system was supposed to encourage proper, productive and efficient use of land and its allocation for development, as against the previous land tenure systems which encouraged land holding without any obligation to develop them, fragmentation and uncoordinated alienation, hoarding speculatively for value appreciation and without precise documentation. Government, through the Land Use Act, envisioned rapid national economic transformation through rational land use and administration of land for the benefit of all Nigerians.

With the LUA, the governor holds land in trust for the people and is responsible for the allocation of all land in all urban areas to individuals residing in the state and to organizations for residential, agriculture, commercial and other purposes, thus aiming at making it easier for state governments and their people to have more access to land, in order to accelerate economic development.

Policies do not succeed or fail on their own merits; rather their progress is dependent upon the process of implementation. The LUA should be viewed from that context and understood as much more complex than had been previously recognized. The Land Use Act has over the years incited a lot of controversy. It has become a major hindrance to housing development. Contrary to the purpose of the Act, which was to make land available to all for housing and economic development, the Act has rather prevented access to land for majority especially for development, as many state governments are holding on to land under the guise of compulsory acquisition for proposed development. This has also denied the original land owners like families and communities’ access to their land for farming or other forms of improvement, thereby limiting economic growth. The leasehold interest on land conveyed under the Act by the state also reduces the investment potential of the land to the would-be investors and promotes a cash-and-carry ideology, as a title holder is usually looking at making immediate gains on the land.

The most contentious aspect of the Act is enshrined in Section 3 which assigns to the governor of a state seemingly enormous power to designate by order parts of non-urban areas of the state to become urban area and, by so doing, extend the frontiers of urban area. The implication is that it enlarges the governor’s area of influence, thereby making some ambitious governors semi-gods in their domains. Some overzealous governors have hidden under the power conferred on them in Section 3 of the Act to harass and intimidate perceived political opponents by either revoking their Certificate of Occupancy (C-of-O) or confiscating their title deeds on land acquired legitimately.

In the commencement of the Land Use Act 1978, it was stated that “whereas it is in the public interest that the rights of all Nigerians to the land of Nigeria be asserted and preserved by law”. I have watched over the years the problems and challenges encountered in land acquisition and securing the approval of Certificate of Occupancy and housing delivery in Nigeria. This has not been the case. The process of acquiring title has been so prolonged that it has become discouraging and disincentive to land ownership, especially for investment. The process of registration of land under the Act takes cumbersome procedures and time. Rather than being a catalyst to socio-economic development in the country as originally planned, the Act has become a hindrance to the growth of the sector, alienating original landowners from their property and depriving them of the homeownership.

The Act is overdue for comprehensive review. That is why the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers has been calling for a review of the Act. In the interest of Nigeria, the National Assembly should review the Land Use Act. While it is the duty of the government to determine legislations, formulate policies and institutions for the effective implementation of the legislations on land, it is expected that land administrators, professional estate surveyors, and valuers should be allowed to drive the necessary technicalities required for achieving of the laid down policies.

• Olamoju is a Lagos-based real estate consultant

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