LAND ADMINISTRATION, SERVICE DELIVERY AND ITS CHALLENGES IN NIGERIA

ESV Alli Martha Mina, ANIVS RSV

Land management refers to the correct use and maintenance of land “as per it’s features and requirements.”

“Land management necessitates decision making and is influenced by the function it fulfills such as agricultural production, habitation, recreational, mineral extraction and the character and features of the land” (UN Academy). In other words, land management must take care of the needs of those who use it for whatever purpose they intend.
The challenges in land administration in Nigeria has made it difficult for land owners to effectively make the best use of their asset and almost impossible for people to acquire the land of their choice.

Tracing the history of land policies and regulations these laws have either failed to meet their desired objective due to implementation or have created difficulties for stakeholders.

The land management process must include effective land titling, registration and transfer of title to either within a family unit or outside it. The process must include an easy and effective way of acquiring land without having to pay huge sums of money. There must be a good mortgage system.

Where we have an effective land management system it will boost the economy of the nation because it will generate revenue for the government; and individual small and large scale businesses can spring up as a result of land ownership.

If it is clear at this time of our country’s history that our land policies are ineffective or are not meeting the needs of the citizens we can call for land reform laws to be promulgated and old laws hampering the development of effective land administration be repealed so that land sector governance can improve in Nigeria.

LAND LAWS

Before the British came into this country, land, particularly in the south, occupied a central position in rural communities and the custom regulating its tenure and administration presented fewer problems in the sense that the varieties in customs of the different communities was respected (Akubueze 2004).
Customary land ownership and administration served the purpose of an ordinary land owner and was free from undue technicality and complexity. It was part of the social system in which the land owner lives. It reflected its values, its practices and usages. Ownership connoted the totality of rights and powers being exercised over a thing and was subordinate to none. Possession under the system was an incident of ownership by virtue of grant from the owner (Ibid.)
When the British came, it tried to respect preexisting property rights. But those which were comprehensive enough to reduce the Crown’s title to mere administrative interference were inadvertently removed. This was done in the Northern part of Nigeria also (Ibid.).
Udoekanem, Adoga and Onwumere (2014) gave the following laws our colonial masters used in the control of land during the period:
I) In the Treaty of Cession (1861) “the root title of the land” was passed to the British Crown.
II) The Land Proclamation Ordinance (1900) “disregarded the native law and custom and provided that title to land can only be acquired through the High Commissioner.”
III) The Niger Lands Transfer Act (1916) was “to vest in the Colonial Governor all rights over all native lands in Northern Nigeria and all rights of the then Royal Niger Company which had land in the South.”
IV) In 1917, the Public Land Acquisition Act was enacted to regulate the acquisition of land by aliens from the people of the Southern Province of Nigeria. No native had right to alienate or give instrument or transfer interest to an alien without the approval in writing to the Governor.
V) The State Lands Act of 1918 was promulgated “to regulate the use, occupation and development of Crown (State) lands in which the whole public have an interest. “The act restricted the sublease of occupiers of state lands in the country.

VI) In 1946, the Town and Country Planning Act was enacted as a law of general application. It was enacted to make provision for the replanning, improvement and development of the different parts of Nigeria. The law provided for the establishment of planning authorities to regulate land use, planning schemes and development control.

These laws by the colonial government “were implemented to eliminate precolonial land tenural system in the country and facilitate private ownership of land, particularly in Southern Nigeria. Thus with the advent of colonial rule commerce and commercialisation it had become possible for individuals to own private land and deal with such land liberally (Omuojine, 1999) and subsequently, land began to be sold, leased or mortgaged to individuals or groups (Bardi,1998).

When Nigeria became independent in 1960, the economic spheres in the country were very fast, leading to rapid urbanization in the major towns. The increase in the rural-urban migration lead to the increase in the need for land in the urban areas. The authorities needed land for providing infrastructure and to provide land for oil exploration due to the oil boom in the 1970s. The acquisition of land for those purposes became difficult due to the high cost of compensation. Land speculators made it difficult for individuals to acquire land because of high profiteering. State and local government land officials became very corrupt since they were in charge of the acquisition (Akubueze, 2004).
The need for land reform was obvious. Initially, the government had promulgated the Land Tenure Law(1962) to replace the Land and Natives Rights Acts of 1916. It vested rights in the Minister responsible for land matters, who holds and administers them for the use and common benefits of the natives (or indigenes) of any of the Northern states. Non-natives had no right unless the Minister approves (Udoekanem, Adoga, Onwumere 2014).

When the Military came into power the then Head of State promulgated the decree of 1976 to resettle owners of land whose interest had been acquired. This posed a problem because the law only applied to bareland and gave maximum compensation payable in different zones of the country. The replacement cost method was adopted for valuation instead of the open market value (Akubueze 2004). Therefore, the law still made it difficult for average Nigerians to acquire land. It was only the privileged and influential persons in the society that were granted or that could own land. This led to the promulgation of the Land Use Decree of 1978.

THE LAND USE DECREE

The decree (now Act) was to address the issues which includes the following:
I) Unify the various land tenure systems operating in the country.
II) Encourage and enable the proper productive and efficient use of land.
III) Make access to land more equitable.
IV) Streamline and simplify the management and ownership of land in the country.
V) Make land available for both private and public uses.
VI) Facilitate government control of the land market thereby eliminating speculation and
VII) Breakdown the cost of land for developmental purposes, making it readily available to all tiers of government.

Under the Land Use Act (Cap L5, LFN 2004), the control and administration of land are vested in the state Governor where the land is situated. Hence, the states have control over the ownership, use, development and administration of land in Nigeria. This is for the urban areas while other lands including that of the rural areas shall be under the control of the local government where the land is situated. However, the Act states that the Governor will dictate through a published gazette which area is urban and which is rural. The state issues Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) while the local government issues Customary Right of Occupancy. This C of O is a lease document from the State Government in which the “individual and companies [are] to occupy, develop and use the land for a period not exceeding 99 years.” If he or the corporate body wants to transfer possession in anyway, the consent of the Governor must be gotten.

By this power given by the Act, the state has the ownership and administration of land, making it possible to revoke the right of occupancy given to the individual or corporate body.
Section 28 and 29 of the Act gives the government the right to take over land in any part of the state for public use or purpose. In other words, the state has what we call “the Power of Eminent Domain” or police power. The state while exercising the police power is expected to pay compensation to the individual or corporate body whose property or land has been acquired compulsorily.

In assessing the compensation the Act states that the individual or corporate body is entitled to the “amount equal to the rent, if any, paid by the occupier during the year of acquisition. The occupier is also entitled to the cost of improvement on the land in form of buildings or installation of any kind. If there are crops or economic trees on the land, the occupier is entitled to be paid the value. The rates, according to the Act, for determining the amount of compensation is to be provided by the “appropriate officer” who is the director of land administration in the state.

In as much as the law has made it easier and cheaper for government to acquire land, it has also increased government control over its use. However, the law has failed to take care of most of the problems existing before its promulgation in 1978, one of which is the efficient management of land in the country.

LAND ADMINISTRATION

Land administration came to be as a result of the need to manage land resources for the benefit of mankind. Land laws were promulgated by government so that land can be properly administered without infringing on the rights of the people to use land for the best purposes.
Land administration is synonymous with land management. To administer is to govern; to manage as a steward, substitute or executor. It includes to dispense; and to tender.

Land management or administration in Nigeria is relatively an urban phenomenon. Lands within urban areas account for 20 percent of the total supply in the country with merely 3 percent of such lands properly titled and registered (Nuhu & Ojetunde, 2013). The reason is that land in Nigeria is still grossly underutilized. The land management process is slow thereby making less number of people able to own land.

The Land Use Act in its short comings has caused delays in the allocation of land and their unavailability for occupancy, processing application for approval of land transactions and in issuance of consents. This delay has forced many people to operate in the informal market since they cannot wait for government to acquire areas for allocation. This is risky because land information management from real estate sources and market becomes difficult for the authorities to obtain (Ibid.). People purchase land from native owners and develop them before the authorities come in. Such urban areas are not captured in the government land records. The only ones captured are the ones registered for the individuals who make their land transactions known to the authorities concerned and who are discovered by government urban land planners that patrol the areas.

These delays in funding, application allocation and approval has placed urban land in the hands of the middle and high income earners. It has been reported that these class of our population which constitute 20 percent received 92 percent of the land under public management.
In addition to the above challenges Adjekophori, Ojeh, Anyanwu and Mustapha (2020) have stated that the “weak land administration process or “incompetent land administration” has led to “high cost of land registration” due to “government regulations on land matters.” “Poor awareness on land administrative process” has led to “poor demand for land and inadequate supply of land.” (Ibid.) The existence of the informal land market has led to “unclear land tenure/right, insecurity of land title, informal land activities” such as “activities of land grabbers” and “land speculation problems” (Ibid.) leading to “inadequate valuation opinion” on land value by both the public and private land valuers. This system results in “lack of credit from financial institutions” by land owners (Ibid.).

EFFECTIVE LAND POLICY

The country needs an effective land policy to allow for genuine land transactions that will lead to economic growth and development. When there is a good land policy by government, it will lead to land management that will benefit the citizens.
The land policy is expected to give us “laws, guidelines, strategies and tactics of administering land in the body polity of a country. It represents a pronouncement of what government of a country intends to do or not to do….a set of rules, principles, objectives, or course of action respecting land ownership, land development and land utilization….It aims at balancing of interest between government, land owning class and landless class”(Nuhu & Ojetunde, 2013).
In other words, a good land policy by government will result in
I) more people owning registered land free of disputes,
II) less number of days to perfect title with less cost in the process of registration and less value of ground rent,
III) increased number of registered land transactions with such transfered titles registered as well and
IV) increased efficiency by staff leading to less cost of administration and more revenue from the
management process.

LAND REFORM

It has been estimated that Nigeria has 910,770 square kilometer land mass but it has been established that only a fraction of that land is presently in use to boost economic and residential or commercial activities”(Igidi, 2023). Quoting from an Estate Surveyor and Valuer who is a retired director of lands in the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Mr Godwin Ityoachimin, Igidi says “only five percent of the country’s housing stock, which is about 13 million units, is in formal mortgage, meaning that 95 percent of the houses in Nigeria are dead assets. They are neither tradable nor bankable.” He further stated that “it was in the interest of the government and the people for reforms to be undertaken with the sense of urgency it requires so as to boost the real estate sector which has the potential to transform Nigeria’s economic fortunes” (Ibid.).

Conditions For Land Reform

A study carried out by the British Council in some states in Nigeria in 2010, titled “Land Administration Reform Administration, Registration and Regularisation, gave three key conditions for success in land administration improvement in the country.
They include

• a mechanism to retain revenue to reinvest and build on improvements in service delivery outside the normal budgetary arrangements of traditional civil service departments.
• the devolved authority and ability to make business improvement decisions quickly within the organization.
• the desire and a mechanism to increase the scope of registration for the benefit of all citizens”
  Staff of the government department need to think outside the box to improve on services to achieve the stated goals.
  Furthermore, the study realized that once there is an effective land administration system, it will
  a) support governance and the rule of law.
  b) facilitate land reform and help to alleviate poverty.
  c) guarantee ownership and security of tenure.
  d) support land and property taxation.
  e) provide collateral that can be used to access credit for further economic activity.
  f) develop and monitor land markets.
  g) protect state lands
  h) reduce land disputes and conflicts
  i) improve urban planning and infrastructure development, manage natural resources and support environmental management.
  j) provide a mechanism to realize medium and long term investment in environmental and agriculture improvement and
  k) provide statistical data to access policy and strategy.
  The above results is the dream of land administrators nationwide. It is left for the government to create the enabling environment so that productivity in land administration can be achieved.
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  CONCLUSION
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  Land management or administration as has been discussed is a key area where the government can generate revenue on a large scale if the right tools and mechanisms are put in place.
  Land reform is needed to make it happen.
  As stakeholders in the built environment and in the construction industry we must continue to push for the reforms to take place through education and advocacy using the right channels. With these efforts it will be achieved.
  ESV Alli Martha Mina, ANIVS RSV, is a registered Estate Surveyor and Valuer. She writes from Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.