the nigerian experience on land administration for economic development
DESCRIPTION
THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE ON LAND ADMINISTRATION FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. Surv . Taiwo Samuel Adeniran Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation 8 Yawuri Street, Garki Abuja (+234)805 177 7843, [email protected] ; a [email protected]. INTRODUCTION. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE ON
LAND ADMINISTRATION FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Surv. Taiwo Samuel AdeniranOffice of the Surveyor General of the Federation8 Yawuri Street, Garki Abuja(+234)805 177 7843, [email protected]; [email protected]
Conventional economic thought considers land as a factor of production in
much same way as labour, capital and entrepreneurship.
INTRODUCTION
Land is a definable area of the earths’ terrestrial
surface encompassing all attributes of the
biosphere immediately above or below the surface
including those near the surface, the soil and
terrain forms, the surface hydrology (including
shallow lakes, rivers, ,marshes and swamps under
surface, sedimentary layers, associated ground
water reserve the plant and animal population.
Land administration is the process of determining, recording and
disseminating information about ownership, value and use of land when
implementing Land management policy (UNECE Report, 1996).
It is a process and an instrument for government to offer security of tenure
on regulate land market, implement Land Reform, protect the environment,
levy taxes, etc as well as serve the peculiar development needs of her
citizens.
Land administration is the way in which the rules of land tenure are applied
and made operational.
INTRODUCTION
A good land administration system aims at
equitable distribution of wealth to encourage
economic growth and development.
NIGERIA
Nigeria, with an estimated population of 140,003,542 is the largest
black nation in the world. Its land area covers about 923,768km² on
the coast of West Africa.
Today, Nigeria is divided administratively into thirty-six (36) states,
seven hundred and seventy-four (774) Local Government areas and
the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja. An estimated 250 of them
speaking over four hundred languages, many with dialects.
Nigeria Showing the Thirty-six (36) States
THE LAND USE PATTERN:ARABLE LAND:- 33% PERMANENT PASTURES:- 44% PERMANENT CROPS COVERING:- 3% FOREST AND WOODLANDS:- 12% OTHERS 8%.
This paper will present Land Administration
experience in Nigeria before, during and after
the Colonia Era.
It will also showcase the new
initiatives of Land Reform for
Economic Development.
Prior to the coming of the white man and colonalization,
there existed a plethora of indigenous, independent, ethnic
enclaves with different cultural traits and attributes.
Among the Yorubas, land was corporately owned by the
community, village or family, though individual
landownership was also recognized.
The whole idea is that “group ownership" in the African
context is an unrestricted right of the individual in the group
to run stock on what is held to be the common asset of land;
This customary tenurial system enunciated above also
operated to a large extent among the Ibos of the Eastern
Nigeria and other tribes in the Southern part of the country.
PRE COLONIAL ERA
Summary of Land Policies and Statutes in the Pre Colonial Era
The land management structure that existed in the North prior to colonization
exhibited most of the features of the customary tenurial system in the South.
The Jihad of the 19th century, during which the Fulani raided many parts of what
later become known as Northern Nigeria saw the imposition of Islamic law in the
wake of the raids.
The Islamic principles is also in consonance with indigenous land custom, which
also did not accept outright alienation of land. In fact, it is presumed that the
customary and Islamic systems of land tenure coincide generally on basic
concepts.
It is therefore trite to submit that customary land tenure system before
colonization exhibited essentially a uniform system of landownership and
management which, though vested ownership of lands in the community or family
At this time, and under the extant customary system, there was no land
speculation and land grabbing that is now prevalent in modern times.
PRE COLONIAL ERA
The colonial masters did not attempt to impose a uniform land tenure
system throughout the length and breadth of Nigeria.
Through various legislations, proclamations and policies, the colonial
government sought to facilitate the transition from the customary
system of land tenure to the English land tenure system.
Such legislation include the Swamp Improvement Ordinances of 1863
& 1877 and the Land Title Ordinance of 1868.
This latter Ordinance formed the basis for the grants of land made by
the crown between 1863 and 1914.
In 1917, the colonial government instituted a legal framework for
compulsory acquisition of land and registration of title to land.
COLONIAL ERA
Summary of Land Policies and Statutes in the Colonial Era
The system was first introduced in Lagos vide a legislation in1883 and the
rest of Southern Nigeria in 1900.
The two legislations were re-enacted into the Land Registration
Ordinance1907 of Southern Nigeria and later into Land Registration
Act1924 on the amalgamation of Northern and Southern Nigeria in1914.
The system bred confusion into land administration and all efforts to
remedy it through legislations proved abortive.
Thus, the colonial government encouraged and assisted the growth and
development of a capitalist land management policy with all the trappings
of an open market system and vagaries associated with such policy.
The North operated a paternalistic approach to land administration. Based
on the Northern Nigerian land committee report, the colonial administration
promulgated the Land and Native Rights Proclamation of 1910 which was
repealed and replaced with the Land and Native Rights Ordinance of 1916.
COLONIAL ERA
Nigeria became independent in 1st October, 1960 and ever since has
been promulgating laws in all aspects of national issues including land
administration
The control and management of land was transferred from the Emirs
to the Chief Executive of the Northern protectorate.
This policy was akin to the customary land tenure which sees land as
one corporately owned and managed for the benefit and development
of members of the group or family or community concerned.
Through this policy, the colonial administration in the North was able
to rationally, effectively and efficiently manage the land resources in
the area.
It reduced land speculation and grabbing, land disputes and
uncertainty of the title of land in the area.
This paternalistic policy continued until the eve of the promulgation of
the Land Use Act in 1978.
POST COLONIAL ERA
Summary of Land Policies and Statutes in the Post Colonial Era
The post independence land policy in Nigeria exhibited dual
features and characteristics.
In Southern Nigeria, the policy was dualism with customary
land tenure system operating side by side and attimes
overlapping with the English land tenure system.
The Northern policy was characterized by a paternalistic
system which essentially nationalized all lands turning former
owners into tenants.
There was no national land policy for the whole country.
This encouraged the development of multifarious land
legislations and policies in the country.
The Land Use Act 1978 introduced a uniform land tenure
legislation throughout the country but, without, unfortunately,
a uniform administrative and implementation policy.
POST COLONIAL ERA
The Land Use Act is a product of the recommendation of the
Land Use Panel set up by the government in 1977.
The Rent Panel identified land tenure to be a major constraint
to the successful implementation of many developmental
programmes in the country.
It thus, recommended the establishment of a Land Reform
Commission
The panel also recommended the promulgation of a Decree
which will vests in the state governments within two years of
the Decree all undeveloped sites in private approved layouts
within defined urban centers.
THE LAND USE ACT 1978, (CAP 202 LFN)
The recommendations of the Land Use
Panel gave birth to the promulgation of
the Land Use Decree now Act on March,
29th, 1978.
All land situated in the territory of each state in the country is
now vested in the Governor of the state.
All land control and management, including land allocation in
urban areas are controlled by the Governor of each state while
land located in rural areas becomes the responsibility of the
various local government. However only the Governor can
declare parts of the state territory governed by him as an
urban area by an order published in the state gazette.
All land in urban areas is to be administered by a body known
as the Land Use and Allocation Committee which has the
responsibility of advising the Governor in the management of
urban land;
IMPORTANT PROVISIONS OF THE LAND USE ACT 1978, (CAP 202 LFN)
All lands which has already been developed remains the possession of the person in whom
it was vested before the Act became effective.
The Governor is empowered to grant Statutory Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) which
would be a definite term to any person for all purposes and rights of access to lands under
his control.
The maximum area of undeveloped land that any person could hold in any one urban area
in a State is one half of an hectare, in the rural areas this must not exceed 500hectares
except with the permission of the Governor.
The consent of the Governor is required for the transfer or alienation of any statutory right
of occupancy and the consent of the local government, or that of the Governors'
inappropriate cases, must also be obtained for the transfer of customary Right of
Occupancy.
The government may acquire land and revoke the Right of Occupancy for overriding public
purpose and pay compensation ONLY for the unexhausted improvement on the land
including agricultural crops.
IMPORTANT PROVISIONS OF THE LAND USE ACT 1978, (CAP 202 LFN)
In over 30years of operation, the Land Use Act has
succeeded substantially at making it easier for
government to acquire land for public purposes
It has drastically minimized the burden of land
compensation and considerably reduced land litigation.
It has however created a new genre of problems for land
management in the country particularly in the Housing
sector of the economy.
State autonomy creates problems of control especially in the selection
of a system for Land Administration.
Dearth of suitable indigenous technical expertise in the country
Low level of training and capacity building
High capital outlay and financial requirements for the implementation
of modernization programs .
Low level of property development.
Inadequate large scale cadastral maps required for the preparation of
the title documents (Certificate of Occupancy).
Ineffective infrastructure for Land Management.
CHALLENGES OF LAND ADMINISTRATION IN NIGERIA
Challenges of Land Administration in Nigeria
Economic activities on land should be planned and distributed to serve the
common good, be self renewing and build local assets and self reliance.
It is humane to maintain the ecology as part of the limited nature to
building open spaces, natural assets, equity for equal accessibility to land,
benefits and decision making of a society, taking cognizance that the
sustainability concept transcends development in land and other
environmental resources utilization.
Land development should meet the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
NEW INITIATIVES IN LAND ADMINISTRATION FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Towards the beginning of the millennium and the current democratic
dispensation in the country, Nigeria commenced a regime of reforms
particular in land and economy.
Motivated by the desire to put Nigeria among the twenty largest
economies in the World by the year 2020, Late President Umaru Yar'
Adua anchored his programmes on a seven Point Agenda, which
included a Land Reform Programme.
It was in a bid to actualize Land Reform as one of the 7-pillars and
thereby develop a long-term strategic plan for the transformation of
Nigeria that the Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reform was
inaugurated by Mr President on April 2, 2009.
NEW INITIATIVES IN LAND ADMINISTRATION FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
A good reform programme for land administration will
optimize the use of land as an economic commodity.
It will also enhance the overall performance of the national
economy.
The Land Use Decree of 1978 (now Land Use Act Cap L.5,
2004), attempted to unify the operational law in Nigeria
and validate property rights to the citizens (though for a
specified period of time), through the issuance of Statutory
and customary Certificates of Occupancy.
It however, left room for different levels of uncertainty
because it did not repeal the previous land laws. These
anomalies are what the Land reform is intended to address.
THE LAND REFORM
The major objectives of any (ideal) land administration reform
are among others, to ensure the following:
Secure dealings in land.
Low cost of land transactions
Access to credit
Transparency in all dealings.
Easy access for all participants, poor or rich.
Protection of minority rights
Environmental sustainability
OBJECTIVES OF LAND REFORM
The Terms of Reference for the Committee on Land Reform are as follows:
To collaborate and provide technical assistance to States and Local Governments to
undertake Land Cadastral nationwide.
To determine individuals ‘possessory’ rights using best practices and most appropriate
technology to determine the process of identification of locations and registration of title
holdings.
To ensure that land cadastral boundaries and title holdings are demarcated in such a way that
communities, hamlets, villages, village areas, towns etc will be recognized.
To encourage and assist State and Local Governments to establish an arbitrary/adjudication
mechanism for land ownership and conflict resolution.
To make recommendations for the establishment of a National Depository for Land Title
Holdings and Records in all states of the Federation and the Federal Capital.
To make recommendations for the establishment of a mechanism for land valuation in both
urban and rural areas in all parts of the Federation; and
To make any other recommendation(s) that will ensure effective, simplified, sustainable and
successful land administration in Nigeria.
THE LAND REFORM
The main thrust of the Land Reform is to create a system of land
administration that will ensure that all Nigerians whether living
in rural or urban areas of the country have a document or title
indicating their right to any parcel of land for any standard
period of lease or ownership that the nation may decide.
This would enable them to draw capital from their land and assist
the society to develop a healthy attitude to property right.
The Land Reform Committee employed the following approaches to deliver on their
mandates:
Identify bottlenecks in the existing legislation on Land Administration and practices
within the existing land delivery process.
Examine the quality and adequacy of institutional capacities required to administer
and promote the inevitably monumental increase in land transactions after the
reform.
Clarifications of the existing institutional mandates.
Examine the requirement to mainstream set practices in the documentation of land
tilting, registration process and procedure.
Consideration of an orderly development of nationwide land information
infrastructure for an efficient networking of databases of cadastral and land title
records.
The Committee also plans to map the whole country at cadastral scale as implied in
the Terms of Reference.
THE MODALITIES OF LAND REFORM COMMITTEE
Articulation of Land Use policy reform that are necessary to increase both efficiency and
growth of the economic sector and as a catalyst for imbibing the new tenets of the free
market economy.
Sensitization to create an awareness that the entire people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
have to be persuaded to have an attitudinal change towards the land tenure situation in the
country.
It was realized that the success of the land reform is hinged on mapping the whole country at
cadastral scale; showing the land holdings of individuals, groups of individuals and corporate
entities. It was resolved that cadastral infrastructure should be established, some of which
are:
The upgrading and densification of the National Geodetic framework by establishing CORS
Production of Ortho-photo maps using satellite imagery and low altitude digital aerial
photographs.
Building requisite manpower capacity in collaboration with the Universities and development
partners
Recommendation on the establishment of a National Land Reform Commission
THE MODALITIES OF LAND REFORM COMMITTEE
In order to ensure efficiency in the national land
administration, the Federal Government has put in
place the following infrastructure:
The Federal Land Information System (FELIS)
National Technical Development Forum (NTDF) On
Land Administration
The Cadastral Geographic Information System
(CADGIS) Laboratory
Deed Registries and Survey Offices Nationwide
INFRASTRUCTURE FOR EFFECTIVE LAND ADMINISTRATION
Infrastructure for Effective Land Administration
FELIS is a computerization program that captures records of land held and allocated by the
Federal Government of Nigeria nationwide with reference to their particular spatial location.
It holds details about ownership of the land, location, use and subsequent transactions on it
and dexterity to use available information for some analysis.
It offers a relational central database management system for the control and management
of such land records; it has improved the preparation and production of title documents
(Certificates Of Occupancy).
The rate of preparation of title documents has jumped from about100 titles per annum to
about 1,500 titles over the same period.
It also helps to introduce transparency in the management of Federal Government land
across the country.
It is intended to be the hub of the expected network of land records across the 36 States of
Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja in the National Land Depository.
When fully operational, the system is going to provide access to stakeholders and investors
through the web.
THE FEDERAL LAND INFORMATION SYSTEM (FELIS)
The objectives of the Forum are as follows:
To agree on ideals for the uniform operation of Land Administration throughout the country and
establish a uniform data recording template or format.
To improve the procedure and processes of Land Administration and registration.
To work towards a uniform environment for property ownership and Land Rights throughout the
country.
To agree on software standards that would enable future interoperability.
To generate process description and operational manuals for effective staff training.
To establish a common cartographic feature representation convention.
To provide a platform for spreading best practices among States as a cost effective way of
delivering improvement in Land Administration.
To promote a cordial relationship between the Federal and State Governments and between
individual and State Governments.
To instill a sense of national common purpose.
To provide a network of mutual support and open exchange of ideas.
NATIONAL TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT FORUM (NTDF)
This unit supports Land Administration through the production of Cadastral and
Legal Survey plans or Title Deed Plans (TDP).
The CADGIS laboratory interfaces with FELIS
In addition, a program to convert all the old analogue Cadastral Survey plans to
their digital equivalents and to upload them to FELIS was put in place.
One of the critical challenges of Land administration in Nigeria is insufficiency of
large scale cadastral maps for the processing of title documents.
National Cadastral Township Mapping program was articulated and approved by a
Ministerial committee.
The implementation of the mapping programme was started by the provision of a
second order control network nationwide but was stopped due to paucity of fund.
The Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation in an effort to produce
geospatial data set for all sectors has procured high resolution imagery (2.5m
resolution) covering the whole country and has also commenced Township mapping
of some states capital through the cadastral survey Unit.
THE CADASTRAL GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM (CADGIS) ALBORATORY
The analogue mode of cadastral data management does not support
quick geospatial data production, storage, retrieval, manipulation,
visualization, sharing etc.
Due to the joint efforts of the National Technical
Development Forum and the Office of the Surveyor
General, some of the various states Deed Registries and
Survey Offices have been upgraded and modernized.
Many of them have transformed from analogue to digital
mode, established Geographic Information Systems and
trained some of their staff who will run the Land
Administration process.
THE DEED REGISTRIES AND SURVEY OFFICES NATIONWIDE
Land is still the main asset of rural Nigerians where over 80%
are peasant farmers.
Land administration in Nigeria has been in the fore front of the
National Economic Plan as over 80% of information acquired
in the process of all economic activity in the country are
location based.
This explains why Land Reform had always been on the
National Agenda for economic development.
The objectives of the Land Reform are to make all possible
efforts to ensure that all infrastructure for Land Administration
are established.
This is to unlock the capital in land and promote economic
development for National growth.
CONCLUSION
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