LAND GRABBING IN NIGERIA:CAUSES,VARIANTS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR REAL PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

This paper interrogates the issue of land grabbing in Nigeria and its implications for real property development. In
discussing the heightening menace of land grabbing amidst issues of human rights abuses and global economic
downturn and uncertainties, the paper examines the causes and variants of this phenomenon. It establishes the reality
of land grabbing in the country and the fact that it has led to the loss of lives of individuals, groups and whole
communities; it has stifled the economiclivelihood of many, turned many destitute and new inmates into several
internally displaced persons’ camp; caused avoidable crises and breaches of the peace in communities as well as the
permanent displacement of persons from their ancestral homes and land. In examining land grabbing, the paper
recognises that land in Nigeria is principally regulated by the Land Use Act 19781 described as a single piece of
legislation nationalizing all lands with control and management given to the Government at the State and Local
Government areas in section one. The article posits however, that this State control of one of the greatest resources
and critical factor of production has wittingly or unwittingly encouraged the issue of land grabbing in the guise of
deploying land hitherto held by individuals and families to the development of public infrastructures and social
amenities under the cloak of overriding public interest. How this ugly trend can be arrested is the focus of this work
which has an introduction, examination of relevant concepts, legal basis for land ownership, control and management
in Nigeria, a brief history of land grabbing, causes of land grabbing, variants and implications for real property
development as well as suggestions on the way forward which includes executive and legislative inputs, and ends with
a conclusion.