Yinka Kolawole
Prof. Akin Mabogunje, Chairman of the Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reform, has called on government to individualise land in Nigeria to enhance its capital value.

Mabogunje canvassed this while addressing Surveyors-General from all the over the federation recently in Abuja on the necessity for land surveying in the country. He noted that Nigeria has not been able to fully utilise its land resources.

“Nigeria was one of the most backward nations in the world in terms of what we do with land. Because if you look around in Nigeria, government was yet to do anything tangible in respect to the use of land in the country, adding that if land must have any form of value or use in the market, then government must give it a capital value that will enable it compete effectively in the market as a commodity. The capital worth of the land is what will bring the labour to the market in form of wage or profit,” he stated.

According to him, for land to have any form of capital value, government must survey, title, register and individualise the land to title owners to guarantee its life, noting that every piece of land has two lives in it.
“Every piece of land has two lives.

One life is what you do with it either building, farming or do whatever you like with it, which according to him is not the most exciting part of that piece of land. He stressed that the second life which is the representational life of that land which gives title ownership to individuals is the real capital value of the land,” he averred.

Mabogunje questioned the Land Use Act which based ownership title on assumption which does not in any way translate into practical terms. He added that a lot of land in the country is under- utilised and not in the market, since individuals have no title ownership that will allow them access to transform the land.