CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Land use regulations and controls are used to restrict the rights of private land holders in the use of land. The regulations are used to protect public interest in the use of private land. The regulations stem from the need to provide public amenities, to increase the efficiency of land-use, to limit urban sprawl and unnecessary encroachment on agricultural land, and to achieve economies of scale and least-cost production of public services (Courtney, 1983). The regulations are also used to ensure the availability of land to all groups, and to ensure that the benefits of development go to the community as a whole.
Today, if you buy land in Nigeria and you do not have the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) from thegovernment, it is not yours, all you have is a lease, that is, you never have a freehold. You cannot even haveaccess to any loan or do anything tangible if you do not have fund of your own, not even the National HousingFund which was set up by the government to render such assistance. Yet the Certificate of Occupancy is evenmore difficult than getting the land itself. All efforts by some State Governments especially the Lagos Stategovernment to ease the procedure and collection have been described as mere gimmicks. We have heard seriesof cases where Governors wield their powers to revoke legally acquired rights of occupancy in the interest of thepublic, whereas it was obvious that they were done on political reasons especially against oppositions. Theformer President of the federation who was the author of the Act when it was promulgated during his firstmilitary administration had to reassure Nigerians on 26th of September 2001 in Abuja that “no government ownsland” and that “land belongs to the people”. This statement was made when he was condemning the excesses ofthe Governors. As stated above, since it is a known philosophy that laws are made by men for men and areoperated, implemented and enforced by human beings through various legal institutions, our concern is how theAct has affected sustainable housing development schemes in Nigeria.
Several controversies that were created by the Act have been well documented in different reactions and
write-ups (Mabogunje (2007; 2011) and Aluko (2007; 2009; 2010) dealtexcessively on the gory state of affairs about the housing situations in Nigeria ingeneral and how it could be sustained. In this research study, we try to examine the effects that the LandUse Act has had on sustainable housing provision in Nigeria. Since one of the major areas of the Act is tocontrol future uses and open new land for the needs of Nigeria’s growing population especially in urban areas,yet there is still the outcry of the people to affordable housing provision. In Lagos State for example, the municipalities (localgovernments) have no say in the issue of Certificate of Occupancy as all lands in the State has been declaredurban and are all under the control of the governor.Whereas in the commencement of the Land Use Act 1978 No. 6 on 29th March, 1978, it was stated that “whereasit is in the public interest that the rights of all Nigerians to the land of Nigeria be asserted and preserved by law”. And that all lands comprised in the territory of each State in the Federation are hereby vested in the Governor of the Stat. The Act also provides that “all land in urban areas shall be under the control and management ofthe Governor of each State”.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The concern of the researcher in this study is not really another criticism of the Act but an in-depth evaluation of how it has achieved its aim in the mass provision of housing to the people. However the hope of the Nigerian masses lies in the Actwith the current wave of high cost of acquisition of land. It should be noted that one of the cogentreasons why the Act came into existence was because of the nature of trusteeship of land in the past. It wasdifficult for anyone to get access to land. It is important for the researcher to examine if the Act has made it easy for Nigerians to get land for housing development. Ownership of a house starts from the acquisition of a piece of land. That is to say the intending house ownermust first of all have access to land. In urban areas access to land is not quite easy and that is why one of theobjectives of the Land Use Act is to ensure that land is made available promptly to all those who need it in theinterest of the economy. Having regards to the fact that housing is one of the best indicators of a person’s standard of living and of hisplace in the society, it also serves as a place in which man seeks shelter, comfort, security and dignity amongother things, it is important to examine the effect of Land use Act of sustainable housing development in Nigeria.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The following are the objectives of this study:
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.5 HYPOTHESIS
HO: Land use act has no significant effect on sustainable housing development in Nigeria
HA: Land use act has significant effect on sustainable housing development in Nigeria
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The following are the significance of this study:
1.7 SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This study on the effect of land use act on sustainable housing development in Nigeria will cover all the existing housing development and schemes by government and how the land use act has affected the ownership of land for housing development.
LIMITATION OF STUDY
Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic w
ork. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.
1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Housing: houses and flats considered collectively.
Land: the part of the earth's surface that is not covered by water.
Development: an event constituting a new stage in a changing situation.
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