Land Use Act difficult to amend – Operators

The Chairman of the Ministerial Land Reform Task Team, Dr Ugochukwu Chime, has said the Land Use Act is difficult to amend.

He disclosed this at the 2nd edition of the International Conference and Fair on Land and Development, themed, “Sustainable Land Management for Inclusive Development in African Cities,” in Lagos recently.

He said, “Various efforts to amend the LUA 1978 have failed due to fears and concerns about its impact on various interests. Amendment of the Land Use Act will be a very tall order because of the socio-political perceptions of it as a tool for land grabbing. Thus, improvement of operational issues at the 38 land administration entities and improvement of the legal infrastructure for speedy adjudication of land-related matters must be put in place.

“The needed alignment of our land administration, financial sector services, and the legal underpinning requires the massive involvement of the private sector which is the engine room for the development of any economy.

“All the reforms, hopes, and agenda of the government to use land reform as a means of taxation and increased IGR without linking it back to the efficiency in the private sector businesses which control over 85 per cent of the productive activities in the country are hyper-myopic and must be stopped.”

In a similar vein, the Executive Secretary of the Association of Housing Corporation of Nigeria, Toye Eniola, said it would be difficult to amend the Land Use Act because of the provision vesting all land powers in the governor.

He said, “It is difficult to amend because according to the Land Use Decree, all the land that we have to speak about is referred under the authority of the Governor. Hence, for you to amend that you have to go to the National Assembly and all the states’ House of Assemblies must also support it. And getting the approval of all of these people to come together to agree to do that is a problem.

“The sole reason is that the Governor controls the National Assembly, and if they want to do something, that thing will benefit the sitting government. So no government wants to let go of land powers because land these days has become a source of income for most of the government.”

Meanwhile, the Director of the Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development, Prof Timothy Nubi, said populous regions like Africa and Asia despite their rapid urbanisation and growing economies hold significantly lower real estate value.

He said, “This disparity points to the immense untapped potential for growth in Africa’s property markets, a potential that is currently hindered by systemic challenges. Unfortunately, due to inadequate data, the distribution of real estate value within Africa, and specifically Nigeria, remains poorly documented.

“A significant portion of Africa’s real estate wealth is trapped in “dead capital,” a term popularised by economist Hernando De Soto to describe untitled and unproductive assets. In Nigeria, unresolved issues of land ownership and inefficient administration of the Land Use Act of 1978 have perpetuated this problem. Weak land tenure systems have stalled capital formation and economic growth, leading to massive/colossal wastage.”