By Franklin Alli
Thirty-Six State Commissioners in charge of trade and investment  in the country have called for an urgent  review of the existing Land Use Act, warning that it now constitute serious barrier to the in flow of  Foreign Direct Investment.

In Nigeria, the Land Use Act of 1978, vested the ownership of land on the Governor of each state. This means that the state governors are statutorily responsible for the allocation of land in their respective states while the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory oversees the allocation of land in the nation’s capital, Abuja.

In a communique issued at the end of a two-day Retreat organised by the Ministry of Trade and Investment, the 36 state commissioners, said: “One of the major problems militating against attracting Foreign Direct Investment in Nigeria is the current provisions of the Land Use Act.”

“There is an urgent need for the Federal Government to review it with a view to making it proactive, investor-friendly and easier for land to be used as collateral.

”In order to achieve this objective, state governments should ensure speedy access to Certificates of Occupancy and Governor’s Consent to compliment the efforts of the Federal Government in facilitating investment into the country”.

”The Land Registry in all the states should be digititalised; the concept of Geographical Information System as applicable in Abuja, should be replicated in all the states. Governors should be encouraged to delegate powers to appropriate officers in the states to approve and sign Certificates of Occupancy.

”Similarly, there is a need to prevail on the governors to create industrial layouts in all Local Government Areas of their states and also pay compensation on land acquired for investment purposes.”

They further noted that since all transactions on land require the Governor’s consent subject to registration with land registry, the process of obtaining Certificate of Occupancy was often expensive, time-consuming and frustrating.

In order to remove the bottlenecks associated with the acquisition of land for investment, they stressed that there was an urgent need to simplify existing land procedures for effective title and consent delivery.

Speaking during the Retreat, the Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said the objective of the retreat was to explore the investment opportunities in the states and encourage the states to key into the new investment drive of the Federal government.

“The new focus of the Ministry of Trade and Investment is to attract investment, promote trade and export, enhance the productivity of local industries and develop the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises.

In order to achieve this, we are committed towards working with the private sector to remove the barriers to trade and investment by improving the overall investment climate,” he said.