Land Use Act is not as rigid as those interpreting it —Oyedele

Olufemi Oyedele

The incessant demolitions of property by government in Abuja, Lagos, and other states of the federation without notifications and compensation under the guise of overriding public use as stipulated by the Land Use Act are receiving the attention of a Nigeria-based estate surveyor and valuer, Olufemi Oyedele.

The expert said that the Land Use Act is not as rigid as those interpreting it, adding that it has three main objectives according to its preamble.

“To harmonise the three different land tenure systems in the north, South West, and South-South and South East of Nigeria; to curb land grabbing and ensure equity in land allocation to citizens, and; to ensure federal, state and local governments readily get land whenever they need it for public use, having on mind that physical development on land is a regular exercise,” he said

He pointed out that people’s shallow knowledge of the Land Use Act viz a vis the oppressive tendency of military government that started its implementation in 1978, has remained a big challenge.

He said: “The Land Use Act, for example, stated that it is not superior to Registered Deed of Conveyance or any other Registered Deed before it, but some Nigerians still subscribe to Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) after having Registered Conveyance.

“The Registered Conveyance gives a freehold interest, whereas the C of O gives a leasehold interest. What this means is that a Registered Conveyance Deed holder is not entitled to pay ground rent, whereas ground rent payment is a crucial condition in C of O.

“A Registered Conveyance Deed holder is only entitled to pay Neighborhood Improvement Charge payable to state governments and Tenement Rate payable to Local Governments.”

In some states,  he said there were backlogs of C of O because the state governments wanted it to be so.

“Some states have turned C of O issuance to means of revenue generation which should not be, to make housing affordable.

“How much will it cost a state to establish an important instrument as geographic information systems?

“The implications of states not having adequate C of O on their lands is that the properties (land and buildings) without C of O or legal title will be dead capital. Owners of these properties cannot access the financial value in this land and in the modern era, the main objective of properties is for the owner to be able to access the financial value of this type of asset. That is why they are referred to as “store of value”.

“If they are not legally owned by an individual or group through certification, the individual or group will not be able to access the financial value in them.

The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Arc D. Ahmed Angiwa, put the number of properties in Nigeria as less than 10 percent. This means that over 90 percent of properties in Nigeria have no formal titles.This has played prominent role in impoverishing Nigerians.”

He explained that the Act did not transfer ownership of urban lands to the state governors and rural lands to the council chairmen.

According to him, It only made them custodians and clearly stated that they are trustees of the land within their respective jurisdictions.

He said: ”Due to our nature as Africans with higher propensity to oppress others with little opportunities, some (not all) of these custodians have turned themselves to be owners of state lands and use their “power of eminent domain” as ensured by the Land Use Act to oppress and impoverish their people.

There is a process of land revocation for overriding public use which includes notification of those occupying the land, advertising in the newspaper, consultation with the occupiers to assure them of resettlement or adequate compensation, delineation of the affected land, payment of compensation or resettlement of the Project Affected People (PAPs).“

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