AN APPRAISAL OF THE LAND USE ACT AND LAND ADMINISTRATION IN NIGERIA BETWEEN 1978 AND 2024

Abstract

It is a basic fact that the economy of a country depends on land for its survival. This economic community survival instinct implicates making land in Nigeria available to all and to ensure that land is acquired and put to a proper use for the needed development. Governments, during and after colonial period, enacted the Land Use Act to govern the use or administration of land in Nigeria. There is no doubt that the land policy affects the economy of a nation either positively or negatively depending on how effectively the policy is implemented. An effective land policy is a sine-qua-non or precondition for the sustainability and management of land. The Land Use Act was enacted in 1978 with the aim of improving economic development by ensuring effective and equitable utilization of land and land resources in the country. The authors argue that notwithstanding the importance of management of land in Nigeria, the established administrative structure incidental to the Nigeria Land Use Act has been inconsistent and devoid of clarity of functions and purpose. The reason advanced in support of the above argument is that efforts aimed at achieving the desired objective has been hampered by two major obstacles. The first is the inherent contradictions and defects in the law and the second is institutional weakness and lack of political will to implement the Act fairly and equitably. In other words, the failure is ascribable to problems inherent in the Act and poor implementation. Consequent on the above, the paper maintained the need to critically examine the Nigerian Land Use Act of 1978, its impact on economic development and the inherent problems of the Act since its promulgation as well as the administrative structure under the Land Use Act, focusing on its effectiveness in light of the general principles and policy that motivated the promulgation of the Act. The authors therefore concluded on the need for legislative intervention targeted at reviewing the provisions of the Act.