As part of the ongoing efforts by the Federal Government to review and reform the Land Use Act 1978 for proper and enhanced Land Administration in Nigeria,
The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Arc. Ahmed Musa Dangiwa has said the federal government’s plan to establish the National Land Commission.
According to him, the plan is part of the ongoing efforts by the government to review and reform the Land Use Act 1978 for proper and enhanced Land Administration in Nigeria.
Below are major facts about the proposed National Land Commission
1) the National Land Commission would aim to provide the necessary framework, guidelines, and regulations to fix the gap in the Land Administration in the country for better delivery of affordable housing for all Nigerians.
2) Nigeria is ranked 186th out of 190 countries regarding ease of registering properties and, impliedly, doing business because every business is carried out on a landed property.
3) This anomaly, if corrected, will unlock about $300 billion in dead capital. Dead capital in the sense that all lands will be valuable and can be used for business because, as of now, only about 5% of our land is fully and properly titled because of the bottlenecks in the land administration.
4) All the farmlands, all the lands in the rural and urban areas, are supposed to be registered and stand for the owner as a valuable asset. Currently, all our lands are invaluable because banks can not accept them as collateral, and government and private institutions can not accept them for development because of improper registration. This is what the Commission seeks to address.
5) To understand the motive clearly, look at the Pension Act. It was established with an accompanying Pension Commission to implement it. Look at the Electoral Act with accompanying INEC to implement it. Look at the Population Act with the accompanying National Population Commission to implement it. Look at the Financial Crimes Act with the accompanying EFCC. All the Acts or Laws guiding any dispensation are accompanied by a statutory body to guide proper implementation, except the Land Use Act 1978. There is a huge gap in land administration because nobody is mandated by law to guide its implementation. This is the inspiration. This is the motivation behind the proposed National Land Commission.
6) No country can develop without proper land administration. So many things are impossible in Nigeria because of the gap in the land administration.
