Having  spent 24 years in Ekpoma, Monday Ebonna could be rightly described as an Ishan man. His command of the local dialect is flawless. Same could be said of his understanding of the culture of the people. The Ebonyi- State- born Civil Engineer attributes his “metamorphosis” into an Ishan man to his wife who hails from the area.

Being married to an indigene should ordinarily give Monday some degree of access to land in the community. But this assumption has not held water for Him. Monday, after paying for a piece of land, was asked to pay a levy described as “community levy”.

“I have heard about it, but I did not know that it was enforceable. I was surprised when, I was told that I will pay community fee in addition to the money I paid for the land. That was uncalled for because it was not part of my budget, I still managed to settle the issue based on my familiarity with the people, but that is an issue that needs government’s attention,”he told this reporter recently in Ekpoma.

Ebonna’s plight is akin to what prospective land owners encounter in most parts of Southern Nigeria.

Investigations by Vanguard Features, VF, revealed that the issue is more pronounced in Lagos, where the “Omo onile” syndrome appears to be the major fear of intending land owners.

“When acquiring a plot of land, they (omo onile) will come. If you want to lay the foundation, omo onile must collect their money. When you are the decking stage, you must settle them; you want to roof the house, you must pay the omo onile for that too. If you want to dig a well or borehole, money must be ‘dropped’. If you want to fence your house, you must pay, this is one issue that has not been addressed by the government and it is becoming a major obstacle in land acquisition,”a Quantity Surveyor, Mr. Ademola Ampitan told VF.

VF learnt that the problem arising from land acquisition informed the promulgation of the Land Use Act Decree in 1978. Despite the legislation, land has refused to be accessible to Nigerians.

“The Omo onile issue has not been addressed by the act and people suffer every day in the hands of these people who have turned themselves into lords. How do you explain someone, who just sets up an office just to claim ownership of land and collect money from people?”a property consultant, Chief Longinus Udealor asked.

How it all began

The Land Use Decree now known as Land Use Act by virtue of its entrenchment in the Nigerian Constitution was promulgated by the Military Government led by General Olusegun Obasanjo, ostensibly to unify the land tenure system operating in the North with what obtained in the southern part of Nigeria.

The Act is made up of eight parts of fifty-one sections and addressed four important issues arising from the former land tenure systems in Nigeria: the problem of lack of uniformity in the laws governing land-use and ownership; the issue of uncontrolled speculation in urban land; the question of access to land rights by Nigerians on equal legal basis; and the issue of fragmentation of rural lands arising from either the application of traditional principles of inheritance and/or population growth and the consequent pressure on land. The General principles of the Act state that: subject to the provisions of this Decree, all land comprised in the territory of each State in the Federation are hereby vested in the Military Governor of the State and such land shall be held in trust and administered for the use and common benefit of all Nigerians.

Although some human rights activists allege that the former Head of State promulgated the Decree to enable him acquire the large expanse of land for his farms at Otta,Ogun State, built environment experts posit that the spirit behind the law is not bad but the implementation of some sections of the Act, makes it anti-development.

From Sokoto to Maduigri, Yola to Calabar, Potiskum to Lagos, there have been unending controversies on land, especially on customary ownership and the new methods of land acquisition. The bottom line is that, the law set individuals, communities and the state against one another.

It would not be out of context to say that for the past 33 years, acquisition of land by individuals and corporate bodies for commercial and economic purposes has not only become stressful but extremely difficult.

VF learnt that many Nigerians are not comfortable with the Act because it transferred title and ownership of land from individuals and communities to the governors, who hold the land in trust. But allegations are rife that many of these governors have abused the power and privileges conferred on them by the Act.

Apparently aware of Nigerians’ grouse with the Act, Late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua made attempts to review the law in 2009.

Umaru Yar’Adua’s intervention

Yar’Adua sent 14 Amendment clauses (titled Land Use Act (Amendment) Act 2009 or the Constitution (First Amendment) Act 2009) to the National Assembly for this purpose.

The bill seeks to vest ownership of land on those with customary right of ownership, and also enable farmers to use land as collateral for loans for commercial farming to boost food production in the country.

The bill also seeks to restrict the requirement of the Governor’s consent to assignment only which will render such consent unnecessary for mortgages, subleases and other land transfer forms in order to make transactions in land less cumbersome and facilitate economic development.

Expunge Act from the constitution

Worried by the difficulty in getting access to land, built environment experts have demanded the immediate removal of the Land Use Act from the constitution to ease the process of its amendment.

The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) has also joined in the clamour for the land legislation to be expunged from the constitution to make its review less cumbersome.

The built environment stakeholders posited that the provision of affordable housing will continue to be a mirage as long as the Act continues to hold sway.

Chairman of the Lagos State chapter of the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS), Mr. Adeleke Adesina opined that after expunging the Land Use Act from the Constitution, other controversial sections in the Act should also be removed. For instance, Mr. Adesina suggested that Section 1 of the Act which made the Governor the trustee over land in the state should be expunged. “This provision is based on the very wrong assumption that the Governor will act in the best interest of the people. Experience has shown that in Nigeria, this is not possible. What we have is a situation where the Governor does whatever he likes without any legal restraint, “the Lagos NIS chairman lamented.

According to Surv Adesina, Section 4 (3) which allows for dualism of law on land holding should also be amended. He recommended that the land tenure operating in an area prior to the enactment of the Act, should be reinstated.

“The intention behind Section 22 of the Act (provision on Governor’s consent) is to discourage speculation in land. Since this has not been achieved till date, then this section should be expunged,” he said.

Noting that there is a strong link between land and poverty, Surv Adesina posited that compensation for land acquired by the Government for public purposes should be based on the current market value. “It is wrong to acquire land and deprive the owner the economic benefit he would have derived if he had sold the land,” he said.

Gathering under the auspices of Land Use Act Amendment Advocacy Group ( LUAAAG) some stakeholders also joined the crusade for the removal of the Act from the constitution.

They canvassed a total removal of the “uncertainties in the constitution, under which most Nigerians can’t continue to enjoy their possessory rights to their land.”

According to them, two clauses of the Land Use Act of 1978 are critical. They include: section 34 and section 36 of chapter 2 of the constitution.

LUAAAG also advocated the removal of the two sections from the 1999 Nigerian constitution.

Land use Act was enacted for public interest Presenting a paper on behalf of LUAAAG, Executive Director of SERAC, Dr. Felix Morka said although the Land use Act was enacted in the public interest so that the rights of all Nigerians to land could be asserted and preserved by law, the way and manner the LUA has so far been applied over the past 32 years casts serious doubts on its capacity to achieve the stated objectives.

He said the Act had noble intension of expanding access to land to all Nigerians irrespective of their social and economic conditions and to check the structural and institutional inequities attending the administration of both urban and non-urban land. .

“With the towering housing deficit in the country, currently exceeding 16 million and the proliferation of slums settlements as well as the continuing urban sprawl, a proper review is inevitable It will be recalled that the Section 9 sub section 2 of the said constitution of Nigeria shields the Land Use Act from periodic legislative reviews, except until a two third majority of both the National Assembly and the legislative houses of thirty six state of the federation consent thereto,”Morka submitted.

This amendment procedure according to speakers, is rigid hence, eroding the flexibility required to adjust land use plans in accordance to the dictates of social and economic realities and democratic priorities is difficult.

Different speakers who spoke at the event vigorously argued that the continued entrenchment of the LUA in the constitution has left the country stuck in one direction for decades, with disastrous and potentially economic consequences that now necessitates an urgent reconsideration.

While seeking the removal of the constitutional bottleneck on the land Use Act, LUAAAG advocated for the retention of the Act as a federal law, placed under the legislative and jurisdictional ambit of the National Assembly.

Don’t blame the law, but the operators

President of Housing Finance Professionals Bodies Association of Nigeria, Roland Igbinoba acknowledged that the real issue is not about the law itself but the people operating it.

“While we consider the amendment, we also need to work on the civil servants, who are the chief implementors of the law. It is only when we have progressive personnel as the operators of the law that we can make progress,” he stated.

A lawmaker, Mr. Babatunde Ogala, shares a similiar position.

Ogala, who is a member Lagos State House of Assembly, noted that, “land is on the residual list of the constitution and for any meaningful change to come from the amendment of its use, it must be de-listed from the constitution, so as to allow all the federating states in the country resort to its former land tenure system.”

He maintained that the present state of LUA in the constitution poses a serious challenge “and a contradiction to genuine laws governing land use by the respective State Assemblies, from who the bulk of the work come from.”

President of Mortgage Banking Association of Nigeria, Mr. Abimbola Olayinka emphasised the importance of enlightenment among Nigerians on the importance of the law to their well being. He described the LUA as a law created by the military to take care of parochial interest.

“We in Mortgage business, believe that all the 24 steps involved in land acquisition process needs to be made easier,” he said adding that by making the cost of acquiring land cheaper government will generate more money” .

Also lending his voice, the Administrator, Real Estate Lawyers Association of Nigeria, Yemi Giwa urged LUAAAG to remain tireless in its pursuit, even as he reminded the members to expect opposition along the way .

“In pursuing the amendment, we must expect opposition and remain unrelenting because it is not a worthless efforts,” he advised, maintaining that “the administrative personnel are the major problem of the Act and not the law itself.”

One person, who is not in line with the condemnations of LUA is the Assistant Secretary, Estate Surveyors Association of Nigeria, Mr. Kunle Awoloja .

To him, LUA is not a bad law, but said that the problem lies with the implementation mode, which he said had made it imperative for amendment.

Govt should establish Land Use advisory committee

While calling for the establishment of Land Use Act Advisory Committee by state governments, Awoloya urged that LUA should be made more people oriented and should no longer be made part of the constitution, adding that it is a constitutional right of the people to have unfettered access to land and housing..

Earlier in her opening remarks, the Programme Coordinator, SERAC, Mrs.Victoria Ogueri lamented the suffering Nigerians had gone through due to the inclusion of LUA in the constitution, regretting also that Nigerians are over taxed by the government to the tune of 20 percent, which she said had made over 80 percent of residents of Nigerian in urban cities not to have their own houses and increased the number of slums in Lagos from 42 to 201, where 75 percent of the people live.

“It is our mission to reverse the situation, so that at the end of the day, everybody will be better off, rather than worst off, in the spirit of the law,” she declared.