Nigeria's Land Use Act: An Anti-Thesis to Environmental Justice

Abstract

Nigeria's Land Use Act, promulgated in 1978, is perhaps the most controversial legislation in the country. The Act, originally promulgated as a decree and annexed to the country's constitution, was ostensibly made to nationalize landholding in the country. However, the peculiar impact of the Act on the inhabitants of the Niger Delta region that hosts upstream activities of the oil industry has led to assertions that the Act was made specifically to deprive those inhabitants of the right to participate actively in the oil industry. This article examines the impact of the Act on the right of inhabitants to access justice. It argues that the Act obstructs their rights to environmental justice and is a fundamental cause of the violent conflicts that pervade the region.

Land tenure and investment incentives: Evidence from West Africa

“…Legally, Abioye v. Yakubu established that the law removed both radical title and control from families, community heads, and chiefs, vesting it in the governors of states "for the use and benefit of all Nigerians" (Ako, 2009). Studies of the decree have reached divergent conclusions; Francis (1984) found that elites had used the law to increase their influence in local politics, while Berry (1985) concluded land tenure in her Yoruba sample was largely unaffected.…”

“…Williams (1992) showed that most land transactions in Oyo state continued to operate outside state authority, and that the decree was largely unacknowledged. Ako (2009) argues that the act has led people of the Niger Delta to lose land, rights to compensation for damages done by oil companies, and effective means of conflict resolution. In 2009, President Yar'Adua inaugurated a Presidential Committee chaired by Akin Mabogunje as a forerunner to a National Land Commission.…”

The Social Network of Urban Agriculture

“…The Act heralded policies such as the power of the Governor to declare territory within the state urban or rural and decide what happens in their state's land (Land Use Act, 1978;Ako, 2009). Another of such policy is that which holds that urban land is meant for housing and other urban industrial use.…”

Minority Rights Issues in Nigeria: A Theoretical Analysis of Historical and Contemporary Conflicts in the Oil-Rich Niger Delta Region

“…Simply put, the misrecognition of the host-communities aff ects their participation in the industry they host. 48 As Ostrom noted, in complex situations such as Nigeria's oil industry, the solution does not lie simply in ownership arrangements but governance solutions that provide for participation in collective decisions and make confl ict resolution available for involved actors. 49 Consequently, it is suggested that the legal framework regulating Nigeria's oil industry laws, which perpetuates the 'asymmetrical relationship' between the industry and the host-communities, must be reviewed.…”