5th June, 2018
Prof. Ezekiel Idowu, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun, has called on the Federal Government to establish National Land Commission to oversee land matters and ensure proper use of land resources in the country.
Idowu, a Profesor of Land Economics, made the call on Monday in Abuja at the opening of a three-day National Stakeholders Dialogue on Land Reform in Nigeria organised by the Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reform.
Idowu, in a keynote address, noted that the setting up of a National Land Commission in the country would guarantee land reform process, a firm, legal and sustainable institutional foundation.
“It will also ensure a more secure and robust funding by the government.
“It will ensure that the regulations and procedures governing land transactions are made uniform and more business friendly for would be investors.
“This will facilitate and promote economic development of the country, bureaucratic bottlenecks will also be reduced to the barest minimum,” he said.
The don explained that the funding for the proposed commission should be the responsibility of all the three tiers of government.
He added that professional bodies involved in land matters should also contribute human and material supports to the commission.
“Given the level of our land resources estimated at approximately 92.4 million hectares, no Nigerian should go to bed on an empty stomach and everybody should have a roof over his or her head.
“The reverse is however the case because poverty is everywhere, both rural and urban. We all contributed to the present situation through misuse of powers over land, which is the most important productive asset.
He stated that well functioning urban and rural land markets and taxation, operated under a properly formulated but transparent Land Use Policy will release tied lands development purposes such as agriculture, homes, factories, recreation parks and others.
Idowu regretted that instead of utilising the lands purposefully, Nigerians wallowed in poverty while productive lands remained idle and conflicts abound everywhere over vast areas of productive lands leaving no zone spared.
He said that for Nigeria to become one of the top twenty economies in the world, there should be proper use of land resources.
Based on this, he said individuals, groups and the states must use their powers to ensure efficient utilisation of the country’s land resources to engender prosperity, wealth creation and employment.
He expressed dissatisfaction over the Land Use Act of 1978, which has failed to give the necessary support to credit supply from formal lenders and made no provision for management or resolution of land related conflicts.
“To date, a simultaneous operation of various tenure systems still prevails. Some of these are inheritance, direct sales, pledging, loaning, gift and leasing all of which ignore the new order in land
transactions.
“One characteristic feature of the pre-Act and post-Act periods is inter-community land boundary disputes.
“By the relevant provision of the Act, it is reasonable for the governor of a state to resolve such dispute within his state.
“Realistically, the Act has been found to adjudicate only on usufructuary and proprietary rights over a given territory.
“The Act woefully fails to make provisions for administrative rights over any disputed territory among contesting communities for which usufructuary proprietary rights are extinguishable by a governor.
He disclosed that a lasting solution was the production of cadastral surveys of all lands in the country to provide information on the extent of the land of each community, family, individual or land owing unit documenting ownership through land title registration.
In a good will message, Mr Ahmed Dangiwa, Managing Director, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), thanked the committee for organising the dialogue because the bank faced numerous land challenges.
“Without land, mortgage cannot be created, effective administration of land will reduce cost of land and foster affordable housing and economic growth, ” Dangiwa said.
The dialogue has its theme as “Land Reform:Creating Strategic Pathway to National Economic Development and Wealth Creation”.