Dangiwa: We Will Back Land Use Reforms, Ensure Adequate Housing Data

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, has pledged to back other stakeholders and the National Assembly to ensure that the country’s Land Use Act is comprehensively reviewed and amended.

According to him, the initiative would help update the laws guiding housing, access to land, compensation, resettlement, and other land-related matters in line with current realities.

A statement by the Special Adviser, Media, to the minister, Mark Chieshe, stated that the minister gave the assurance during a meeting with a World Bank delegation at the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja.

Dangiwa, observed that key provisions of the Act, including those related to compensation, were already obsolete and lacked relevance in guiding land-related matters in today’s Nigeria.

 “I have already issued a directive to the Directors of the Department of Land and the Department of Urban and Regional Planning to develop a robust framework for engaging the National Assembly and stakeholders in reviewing the Land Use Act,” he stressed.

While addressing the issue of housing deficit, the minister emphasised the importance of instituting a sustainable framework that generates credible, reliable, and scientific data to guide policy formulation.

He stated that he had already moved beyond simply discussing the problem to taking action by engaging the National Population Commission (NPC) to leverage the forthcoming population census to obtain baseline scientific data about the state of housing conditions in Nigeria.

The minister further assured the team that his leadership was determined to address all the challenges confronting the sector, as well as looking into the foreclosure law, which is essential for the growth of the mortgage industry.

 He also noted that the ministry would collaborate with relevant agencies in the area of policy development to ensure urban planning receives adequate attention.

He added that the retreat for state officials of urban planning scheduled to take place in October 2023, would be one way to discuss strategies to tackle the challenge of unplanned cities.

The visit by the World Bank team aimed to brief the new ministers on the existing collaboration between the World Bank and the ministry, ongoing projects and programmes in the housing, land, urban development, and mortgage finance sectors, as well as discuss avenues for further collaborations.

The leader of the delegation, Michael Ilesanmi, noted that discussions with the ministry on land acquisition, resettlement, and compensation began in 2014, with a deepening of the discussions in 2022.

 “Land remains a significant issue in the sector. The Land Use Act faces various challenges, and while realities have changed since its enactment in 1978, not much has changed with the Act. I believe there are opportunities to revise the Act to make it more relevant today,” he said.

 He added that issues surrounding acquisition, resettlement, and compensation were hindering development.

The World Bank team also expressed concern over the inadequate processes and standards used in determining replacement costs and compensation rates, which further exacerbate the challenges in land development.

“You can obtain the legal license, but without the social license, you cannot operate effectively,” said Ilesanmi.

The World Bank offered its commitment to provide technical and knowledge assistance to the ministry when called upon and called for a systematic approach to dealing with the numerous challenges in the land and housing sector.