FG Urged to Review Land Use Act of 1978

Ugo Aliogo

The Group Managing Director, Lashone Group, Dr. Lanre Shonekan, has urged the federal government to review the Land Use Act of 1978, stating that in as much as government continues to be the custodian of the land and the law stands, it would hamper effective use and development of land in Nigeria.

He also stated that government needs to make a lot of changes, starting from the land accusation, because that is where the problem always starts from.

Shonekan, who stated this yesterday in Lagos, during the 13th annual stakeholders’ meeting, commended a lot of State governments such as Lagos, Ogun and others for their efforts to fastrack the process of land documentations, adding that in Lagos, the Omonile syndrome where you have multiple sales of lands and then inconsistency acquisition of land has been well taken care of.

He expressed displeasure over the human capacity deficit facing the sector, noting that there are engineers, who don’t have the required competence meant for delivering effective housing plan, as a result they just look for where they can get money, and many of them are not properly grinded on the field.

The Lashone CEO charged engineers and builders to stop cutting corners, stating that the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) gives specification for the building materials to be used such as specifications for metals and irons to be used, cement ratio mixture, with sands and granite and others.

He averred that government needs to review their policies, and put all regulatory agencies necessary agencies that would ensure full regulatory and compliance.

According to him, “In housing, apart from architectural drawing, you have the structural drawing, which is calculated to points, a little defect in terms of the ratio in a colon can bring collapse. They there is so many things that are not right. Sometimes inferior and substandard materials are used materials are used in building projects because people are trying to cut corners. Even the engineers and builders often times are not being supervised. We can see the structural standing, but I can tell you, that there are a lot of structural defects from materials usage. In the market, nobody will tell you that this is the right material because there is no testing.

“Many structures don’t have architectural drawing approvals. Government is expected to grant you an architectural drawing approval which means that they have seen your designs, and have approved it for you to go ahead. At every stage of building, government is supposed to do their test runs. But they come to do the test runs, some of these unscrupulous engineers and builders don’t allow them to carry these test run. There is corruption in the system.

“Finance is a major challenge when there is no money, people cannot do anything. The mortgage banks need to be very effective in supporting engineers and builders in terms of funding, so they don’t cut corners. The economy needs to be revitalised and this boils down to government to see what they can do. As a member of Real Estate Association of Nigeria, there are times where we had written proposals to government stating that we are ready to subsidise building materials, and make land available for engineers, builders, we just want the mortgage system to work.”