Land Use Act 1978 needs total overhaul

The Land Use Act of 1978 was promulgated primarily to unify the hitherto diverse land tenure system in Nigeria. In the South, it was a freehold system, while in the North, the emirs and chiefs were in charge when it came to land. So, there was a mismatch and the government then thought it should […]

The Land Use Act of 1978 was promulgated primarily to unify the hitherto diverse land tenure system in Nigeria. In the South, it was a freehold system, while in the North, the emirs and chiefs were in charge when it came to land. So, there was a mismatch and the government then thought it should be unified for the whole country.

The Land Use Act was also intended primarily to assist the government have access to land for infrastructural development.

Now 48 years after, in my opinion, the Act has not been fully implemented, even those that are supposed to drive the Act are not implementing it the way it is designed. The Act, therefore, has not achieved its intended purpose.

If you look at the preamble of the Act, it provides that the governor of a state should hold land in trust for all Nigerians, not the people of his own state. The question is that, is that being practiced by our governors?

There are states where certain persons are not granted rights of occupancy over land because they are not from there.

The Act is such that it is part of Nigeria’s Constitution so the process of amending the Act will follow the same process of amending the Nigerian Constitution.

To even worsen the case, Section 2 or 5 of the Constitution provides that any law that is inconsistent with the constitution shall be void to the extent of that inconsistency.

However, Section 315 (5) states that the whole provisions of the Land Use Act cannot be overridden by the provisions of the Constitution. It makes the Act appear more supreme than the Constitution.

And in the event of compulsory acquisition of land, if you are dissatisfied with the proper revocation of your title, you cannot go to court because the Act oust the power of the court to adjudicate on issues on quantum of compensation. That you can only refer the matter to the Land Use Allocation Committee of the state and whatever it decides is final. Whereas Section 44 of the same Constitution speaks of your fundamental right to property and gives you a right before any court of law.

There are also issues of transaction. The LUA provides that before you assign your interest, you must seek prior consent of the governor, which means without it, the transaction is voidable, not void.

However, we are lucky that the courts have looked at this and said no, you can transact but it must be registered. There are also situations where the minister or the governor can revoke your right of occupancy for non payment of ground rent, without notice. All these regulations impede economic growth.

You cannot speak of the right to be revoked and give the same person power to impose penal rent. Why not just stick to it if you don’t pay penal rent you’ll be charged additional money.

So, there exists the conflict, these areas require overhaul. In fact, there are so many areas of the Land Use Act that require review. Right from Section 1 to 55 of the Act there are issues that need to be reviewed.

The LUA provides for three or four forms of ownership of land: Statutory Right of Occupancy, Customary Right of Occupancy, Deemed Customary Right of Occupancy, and then the Federal Land.

Federal lands that existed before the commencement of the Act were kept. Deemed grants are our parents’ houses in the villages that had no certificate so the law presumes that there is a deemed right of occupancy, then customary rights of occupancy are granted by chairmen of local governments while statutory rights are ones granted by governors.

Land, labour and capital and entrepreneurship are the four factors of production. If you look at it, the government has prioritised other factors but has not given consideration to land. Capital, you have the Ministry of Finance, CBN, etc., Entrepreneurship, we have Trade & Investments, MSMEs etc., Labour, we even have the Ministry of Labour, but we don’t have the Ministry of Land, we only have the Ministry of Housing. This is wrong.

That is why we keep having policy somersaults.

 

Esv. Adamu Kasimu is an Abuja based Estate Surveyor and Valuer