Confab: Land Tenure report adopted after 7 weeks

The National Conference has adopted report of Committee on Land Tenure and Boundary Matters, seven weeks after the report was deliberated upon.

The report was adopted on Wednesday 9 July in Abuja after the presentation of the consensus reached by a committee set up to deliberate on the contentious issue of the relevance of Land Use Act in the constitution.

The issue, which was put in ‘bracket’ pending outcome of the committee, had generated controversy among delegates, who argued for and against the removal of the Act from the Constitution.

NAN reports that after listening to arguments for and against the removal of the Act from the constitution, the committee came to the consensus that the Act should remain in the constitution.

The committee, however, agreed that the Act be amended to take care of the concerns raised by delegates, who canvassed for its removal, particularly the provision on compensation in Section 29(4) of the Act. The committee resolved that owners of land should determine the price and value of their land, rather than government compensating them for taking their land.

Another resolution reached by the committee was amendment of the customary right of occupancy, contained in Section 21of the Act.

The amendment, according to the document, should read: “Customary right of occupancy should have the same status as statutory right of occupancy. It should also be extended to urban land.”

The committee also came to consensus on Section 7 of the Act, which restricts the right of persons under the age of 21 to be granted statutory right of occupancy.

The committee resolved that the provision should be amended to read: “Restriction of persons under the age of 18 because an adult, according to the Child Rights Act, is a person who has attained the age of 18.”

Other issues the committee came to a consensus on were land title and further taxation after payment of Certificate of Occupancy fees.

The committee resolved that the issues were procedural and not legal issues and as such governors should title land as has been done in Edo State, where 90 per cent of land is titled.

On taxation, the committee decided that fees paid by land owners for Certificates of Occupancy should indemnify them from further taxation, when leveraging their land.