PROPERTY ARTICLES

Agitations For Repeal/Review Of The Act And For Other Land Reforms

One fact is obvious from the foregoing that some governments in power at the colonial and post colonial times made attempts to respond to challenges of the land administration system through the laws and their implementation. This is understandable since the human society is dynamic and as such laws and other frameworks have to be reviewed to respond to the realities and challenges of human and infrastructural development. The efficacy and effectiveness of those laws remains a source of concern and has led to agitations from citizens.

Two agitations are in the front burners: one for outright repeal of the land use act and the other for review. One factor is obvious though: the act has noble intentions; implementation in a human environment may suffer hiccups. This does not obviate the need for review. The agitation for the expunging or review of the Land Use Act from the Nigerian constitution is thus understandable. However the review must be such that would move Nigeria forward in developmental efforts and remove constraints for genuine development and enterprise from its nationals. In an effort to reform, best practices, workable models that take account of our history, culture, and national developmental agenda must be set. The review and reform must be based on enlightened or participatory discourse and best practices. It is an onerous assignment that touches on the lives and livelihood of individual Nigerians and other corporate persons, among others.

Any reforms should have underlying well thought out goals. It is those goals that would guide the reform purposes. So the starting point of the reforms should address such issues as the timeliness with which processed land is made available in adequate amounts at right locations and at affordable prices to the people in a way to ensure its optimum use in terms of efficiency, equity and meeting of their basic human needs. access to land with the attendant issues of availability, affordability, security of tenure and ease of transaction.

This write-up has laid the foundation for understanding the context and background for call for land reforms. The next will address and expatiate on areas needing reform. Meanwhile, the debate continues!

Clamour For Review Of The Land Use Act Of 1978 And Introduction Of Other Land Reforms

One fact is obvious from the historical context of land administration in Nigeria and the critique of the land use Act of 1978. The fact is that some governments in power at the colonial and post colonial times had made attempts to respond to some challenges of the land administration system through laws and the implementation of those laws. The human society is not mechanistic but dynamic and as such laws and other frameworks have to be reviewed to respond to the realities and challenges of human and infrastructural development. The efficacy and effectiveness of those laws remains a source of concern and has led to agitations from citizens.

On the land use Act of 1978, two agitations are in the front burners: one for an outright repeal of the Act and the other for review. One factor is obvious though: the Act has noble intentions; implementation in a human environment may suffer hiccups. This does not obviate the need for review. The agitation for the expunging or review of the Land Use Act from the Nigerian constitution is thus understandable.

However the review must be such that would move Nigeria forward in developmental efforts and remove constraints against genuine development and enterprise from its nationals. In an effort to reform, best practices, workable models that take account of our history, culture, and national developmental agenda must be adopted. The review and reform must be based on enlightened or participatory discourse and best interests of Nigerians. It is an onerous assignment that touches on the lives and livelihood of individual Nigerians and other corporate persons.

Any reform should thus have underlying well thought out goals. There should be an overall strategy to guide reforms. It is those goals that would guide the reform purposes. The starting point of the reforms should address the deficiencies of the Land Use Act and other administrative issues such as the timeliness with which processed land is made available in adequate amounts at right locations and at affordable prices to the people in a way to ensure its optimum use in terms of efficiency, equity and meeting of their basic human needs.

Suggested Agenda For Land Reforms In Nigeria

It is worth emphasizing that land remains a gift of nature which when productively used will bring joy value and economic empowerment to people. Different nations have different quantities. Incidentally Nigeria has abundance of it that can be used to engage the creative energies of her people. Land can be used for agriculture, mining manufacturing and every other activity of the human race. Reforms on land matters can therefore have significant impact on the well being of the citizens.

The first principle in the reform should be to get our national objectives and priorities right. There should be an overall strategy. Reviewing the Land Use Act should aim at promoting and engendering genuine industrialisation and sustainable development in all sectors of the economy. . The reforms should also enable us to provide simple, correct and timely answers to simple questions on any land in our nation. Such questions are: who controls the land, what is on the land, what is to be put on the land? How secure is the title to this land. How easy is to locate the land? While the debate continues, a few suggestions are presented in this write-up.

The required reforms will have to be addressed from two perspectives: the legal and the administrative. The legal arm of the reforms has to do with contentious issues and clauses in the Land Use Act of 1978. The legal aspect should be seen as the bedrock of initiatives on land matters. It is the position of the law on the issue that can determine how far progress can be made on the use of land for development and investment purposes. Interestingly the Land Use Act is one of the laws before the National Assembly that Nigerians desire a review of. As land is fundamental to majority of human activities, an expeditious review of the law to achieve well articulated development agenda becomes imperative. Should the Land Use Act remain in the reworked constitution, making any future amendment cumbersome and tortuous? Should it be removed from the Constitution to ease any review in the future? Was the inclusion of the Act into the 1979 and 1999 constitutions meant to protect Nigerians? Does the Act respond to the dynamism of our developmental challenges? These and several other issues may need to be considered in the making of a new Land Use Act. Extensive consultations and intensive analysis will be needed. The principles of accessibility availability, affordability, security of tenure, timeliness and ease of processing transactions on land title are among several others that should guide in the enactment of a new land use act. Accessibility to Nigerians in all sides of the economic divide and the ability to hold land as a commodity that can be easily exchanged remain pivotal to the reforms.

There are sections that have thrown up challenges or brought some unintended negative consequences on land management and development and as such needs attention. Such sections include the section of the Land Use Act has to do with such issues as Governors consent. There is also the section that limits the amount of land accessible to an individual to half of an hectare for an urban land, and that of rural areas to 500 hectares needs a revisit. Titling to land remains a major challenge. Security of title is of interest to any discerning investor or developer. The requirement that an individual with a statutory certificate of occupancy cannot be deemed to have transferred his title to the land to another person without the Governor’s consent creates layers of bureaucratic and other forms of disincentives on land matters and development.

The powers conferred on the governor of a state to revoke land for ‘over-riding public interest’ needs reworking. (In the context of this write-up, reworking in some instances may mean outright repeal). The requirement that it is only the governor (for urban land) or the local government chairman (for rural land) that can give statutory right of occupancy for a period of time needs revisit. There have been instances where lands that have the certificates of occupancy (C of O) granted to individuals or corporate persons have such rights revoked for ostensibly overriding public interest but are later re-used or re-assigned for purposes other than public interest. Some affected victims are often not prepared for or empowered to take the tortuous route of litigation.

Furthermore, the power conferred on the governor to declare a land in his state urban land, and the power the Governor has to revoke the statutory right of occupancy remains a great threat to investment, transfer and development. In practical terms in an era where collaterals are needed to secure loans for development purposes, the experience is that financial institutions and even the courts do not view the possession of a C of O as enough cure-all on issues of collateral. This area of the Act has to be urgently looked into. The section can be manipulated for primordial interests and parochial sentiments, political persecution among a horde of other abuses.

The Act should be reviewed to enhance the legal control and rights of individuals to trade with ease in or transfer their rights over the lands. This will give the owners of such rights the powers of investment and development over such lands. It should be noted that the aim of a land titling project is to formally recognize rights in land and enable states and individuals to trade in those rights. There is need for the evolution of a process for unequivocal title to land with ease of subsequent transfer. Furthermore, the Act should be amended to encourage private ownership of land and free transaction on the land by the owner of such right. The amendment should be such that will enable state governments to transfer existing rights of occupancy to freehold interest. These are part of the major issues that should be addressed. In essence, the Land Use Act should be revisited and reworked or reviewed to empower individuals to contribute maximally to their economy well-being and by extension that of the nation. As a matter of fact the reform can empower individuals especially in the rural areas in such issues as agricultural development and investment.

Other areas of reform are basically administrative, and this may require intervention in the policy, institutional, technological and social environment of the country. This issue becomes very important in our setting. The challenge we face as a country is not the paucity of good laws but failure in implementation or following the spirit of the law. There are obviously fine intentions and goals for the Land Use Act of 1978, but some of those fine intentions have been sacrificed on the altar of implementation. The reason is sometimes due to structural and institutional inadequacies and inefficiencies oftentimes coupled with negative and unwholesome tendencies among those who are to implement the law. It therefore reinforces the need to face the land reforms from the two perspectives of the law and then institutions or administrative capacities. The reason for this argument is borne out of altruism, so that our good laws will not die on arrival. The two-pronged approach to the reforms must be pursued.

There would be need for governments to put in place an efficient and effective land records and administration system. There is need for detailed cadastration and mapping of land ownership. A cadastre is a parcel-based and up-to-date land information system "which may not necessarily be computerized, which includes geometric description of land parcels and which are sometimes linked to other records or registers describing the nature of interest and ownership and control of those interests and oftentimes the value of the property and subsequent improvements. In simple terms a cadastre will give the land delimitations, the names and particulars of ‘owners’ or whoever has the title to the land and also details of development on the land. A computer based cadastral and land information system will obviously arrest the shortcomings of the tedious and manual method of land documentation. The system will promote accuracy, speed and ease of property documentation and identification. When properly adopted, computerized cadastration will demystify the present perception of trauma and inefficiency associated with land documentation. The initial costs may be high but the advantages on the long run far outweigh the cost. As a matter of fact in this age of globalization and information revolution which has been described by some people as irreversible, Nigeria can not afford to remain in the backwaters of underdevelopment in the adoption of information technology. The use of the Geographic information system a subset of which is the global positioning system becomes imperative. It is heartening that some states have started the process of adopting the use of the geographic information systems as a tool for their land management. Lagos State is a case in point. The Lagos State Government organized a stakeholders’ forum last year where the progress that has been made on the GIS/mapping of the state land resources was presented. The forum enlivened and enlightened the stakeholders on the potential benefits of the computer based cadastral and land information system. Other entities and municipalities have made varying degrees of progress in this regard. Other states in the Federation should follow suit.

Obviously there will be challenges in the implementation of a new land law when eventually passed as there may be two regimes of people affected by the ‘old’ and the ‘new’. However that should not be a problem that can not be surmounted. As it was in the case of the Pension Review Act of 2004, a transition period should be created. Furthermore, public land should be limited to areas that have been marked for specific pubic projects.

It is hoped that when necessary reforms are made in our laws and institutions that have to do with land administration and management, Nigerians will be able to see light at the end of the tunnel. Meanwhile the wait for the reforms continues.

Dr. Dada, a built environment professional, lectures at the University of Lagos.