Implementing land use Act to enhance land registration

Certificate of occupancy (C. of O.) is an instrument of title issued by an authorized government Office evidencing the right to occupy and use a specific piece of land described in the document together with the survey description of the location under certain terms of contract. In Nigeria, the constitution confers ownership of all lands in the country to the government. All lands in Nigeria, therefore, belong to the respective state governments. Thus, only the government can issue a C of O and it certifies the buyer with ownership of a parcel of land for 99years. When any parcel of land is purchased, the state government issues the buyer a Certificate of Ownership as a ‘receipt’ of sorts or proof of ownership.

Although the procedure and requirements for the certificate vary widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and on the type of structure; individuals or corporations seeking to buy land in Nigeria have several options either straight from the government in the case of government acquired land or from individuals who have bought from the government or from the natives (after verifying from the authorities that you are not illegally buying government acquired land). But whoever you buy from, you need to eventually obtain a certificate of occupancy from the state government to legitimize your purchase, if the previous owner have not already done so.

In as much as a C of O is one of the important documents in land or property transaction, recent reports indicate that about 97 per cent of lands owners in Nigeria do not have it. The Surveyor-General of the Federation, Peter Nwilo who revealed this information recently, attributed the development to poor implementation of the Land Use Act. He explained that the Act should be properly implemented by state governments to ensure lawful allocation of land, noting that since 1978 when the Act came into existence, no state had implemented it. According to him, the federal government has set up a committee on land reform to bring to the fore the shortcomings of the actions that has caused the Land Use Decree not to work the way it should work.

Critiques argue that the Act, as implemented by the government of most states, has become a source of political and social abuse. Most importantly, it has given rise to unprecedented corruption in the Ministry that processes the Certificate of Occupancy. Furthermore, they see the process of obtaining the C of O as not only time-consuming but also unduly expensive.

Experts believe that, the non-availability of relevant geospatial planning tools and infrastructure, and the perceived difficulty by the land owners in meeting the statutory conditions in the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) as stipulated by the Land Use Act No. 6 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1978, is responsible for the poor number of land owners with C of O.

Hence, the current inefficiency in land administration should be addressed through the reform of

Land Use Act and repositioning of the relevant ministries and the Land Use and Allocation Committee (LUAC) in order to meet up the need of the people; unnecessary processes involved in the acquisition of a C of O hampering development in the country should be reviewed; and there is a need for enhanced collaboration among bodies responsible for the implementation of laws governing the allocation of land in Nigeria.