Land Tenure In Nigeria Essay

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Land tenure in Nigeria can be referred to as the manner in which land is acquired, owned, used and transferred (Nigerian Environmental Study/Action Team, 1991). Land tenure system thus set the framework for implementation of land policy and land related objectives. Thus a prominent and basic issue in the analysis and discussion of any land tenure system is the relationship of man to man in the occupancy and use of land, and the fact that it forms a fundamental framework condition for a nation’s development (Ojigi et. al., 2011)
The evolution of land tenure in Nigeria is a complex and dynamic process, involving the traditional political system, the modern legal system and Islam (Adeniran, 2011). The land tenure regimes currently found in the …show more content…

The issues include the problem of lack of uniformity in the laws governing land use and ownership, the uncontrolled speculation in urban land, the problem of access to land right on equal basis and fragmentation of rural land arising from the allocation of the traditional principles of inheritance (Olayiwola and Adeleye, 2006).
Nigeria Land Use Decree had attempted to redefine people’s right to land in the interest of socio-economic development. The need to ensure equitable access to productive opportunities on the land, and security of such access once gained makes the land reform measures mandatory. Enacted on 28th March, 1978 and re-christened Land Use Act (LUA) in September 1980, the main objective of LUA was and still to make land for development easily available to all individuals groups, institutions, and governments (NEST, 1991).
The Act provides for the granting of statutory rights of occupancy over urban land and of customary rights of occupancy over rural land, and both types of right are conveyed formally through the issuing of Certificate of Occupancy (C of O). The LUA vests all the land of each state of the federation in the Governor of the state to hold in trust and administer for the use of all Nigerians, and he can revoke a right of

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