THE Director, Land and Housing of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, recently disclosed that the Federal Government of Nigeria has commenced the process of reviewing the Land Use Act that was enacted in 1978 to control ownership and use of land across the country. Prior to the enactment of the Act in 1978, different land tenure systems were in operation in different parts of the country.

THEREFORE, the Land Use Act was instituted to solve some inherent problems in land use and ownership. They include lack of immediate availability of land for use when required by governments and individuals, curb activities of land speculators and to eliminate controversies resulting in some law suits, loss of lives and properties as well asassist the citizenry to own land where they choose and to enable government to bring under control the use to which land can be put in all parts of the country.

THUS, by the enactment of the law in 1978, ownership and control of land use was transferred to the government from individuals and communities. The Act simply transferred the ownership of land to the state, which is to hold the land in public interest. Under the Act, any individual or organization that requires land will approach the State Governor who will issue Certificate of Occupancy (C ofO) that will permit him use the land. The Act also created Land Use and Allocation Committee  responsible for allocation of land in the states.

DESPITE the laudable intentions of the Act, there exist a number of fundamental flaws, impediments and shortcomings that made implementation of the law difficult in some cases. This has been rationalized to justify the calls for its reviews in the past as well as the renewed efforts to review the legislation. The Act sets up global trust over land in which the Governor of a state is the trustee without a guiding principle that has allowed some state Governors to abuse the privilege thereby victimizing opponents as well as appropriating state and other peoples land to themselves. 

IN SPITE of the flaws and problems associate with the Act, it also has some very important benefits. The law introduced uniform land tenure system for the entire country for the first time. It permitted state ownership of land and by extension better public control of land use and land activities in the country. States are better empowered to control the use of land in a desirable way. Better land use planning, urban development and environmental protection are other benefits associated with the law.

SINCE the introduction of the Act, a number of challenges have been associated with the legislation making for agitations for its review and ultimate amendment and total removal from the 1999 constitution. The Hope supports the call for the review of the 42-year-old act because of the crucial position of land in the social, cultural, economic and political lives of a society such as Nigeria to libralise the cumbersome process of procurement and issuance of C of O. At present, state governors hold land in trust for the public without a guiding principle to direct their action. This has made some of them to abuse the privilege by cancelling C of O of opponents.

THE present Land Use Act neglects the traditional rulers. There is the need to involve them in land matters because in reality, they are not just relevant but still handle a lot of land related matters in their domains. The section on compensation should be reviewed to allow dissatisfied individuals to approach the courts for adjudication and adequate compensation instead of making the decision of  land use and allocation committee final on the matter. The Act does not provide sanctions for non-implementation of essential components of the law as required thereby allowing impunity and abuse in its implementation and non- implementation.

OF COURSE, this is not the first time that attempts are being made to review the 1978 Land Use Act in Nigeria. However, these efforts have not yielded the desired outcome of improving the law in the country. Yet, the problems associated with the act persist. Perhaps the past attempts have failed because the law was made part and parcel of the Nigerian constitution that will require the rigorous steps of amending the constitution and the fact that Nigerians have not been sincere in following up on the amendment because some powerful individuals are benefitting from the flaws in the existing legislation. The government must ensure that the current attempt at reviewing the Act is successful to enjoy the confidence of the public to secure better tenurial system for the country as well as correct the anomaly associated with it. Members of the public including the press must insist and support efforts at reviewing the act to make land use and land administration sustainable in the country.