Press Releases

Land Use Act: Fashola Calls For Improvement Of Processes Rather Than Repeal

Jul 8, 2008 - Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Tuesday made a strong case for the improvement of the processes of land administration rather than a repeal of the Land Use Act.

The Governor spoke in Abuja while chairing session five on Land Reform as a Catalyst for Residential and Commercial Mortgage Growth during the day two of a conference on Financing the Seven-point Agenda of the Federal Government through the Capital Markets.

Governor Fashola added that though many people have canvassed for its repeal, the Land Use Act has no major fundamental defect but has been hampered mainly by the way it is being administered.

He disclosed that Lagos has come to terms with some of the criticisms of the operation of the Land Use Act in the issuance of Consent which the state has worked on innovatively to make the system work faster.

Governor Fashola added that part of the innovation brought about by the administration is the institution of a 30day consent period during which if all the documents are complete, consent is issued within 30 days.

He admitted that the State is not where it ought to be but has made remarkable progress from where it was such that the present administration has continued to delegate powers of signing consents to at least four commissioners to make the process faster as it happened during Asiwaju Tinubu’s administration.

He said the operation of the land registry in Lagos has been fine tuned to ensure that it is no longer accessible to members of the public in terms of the Certificate of Occupancy as only authorised people can have physical contact with the C of Os.

Governor Fashola said as at today, the land registry now has at least seven million pages of land titles and C of Os all scanned which can be accessed through electronic means without tampering with the documents.

He lamented that Nigeria is seating on a lot of dead capital in form of land because the Nigerian society has refused to allow its land processes to evolve in a formal manner where it can become an instrument of international trade and international transaction and can key into formal structures that already exist in the developed world.

“If you look at all the wealth of the first world today, it is locked down in lands and therefore whenever there is a major crises in the value of land, there is a serious ripple effect in the whole economy and the recession we are seeing in the United States of America today is not totally attributable to power as it is to the challenges of mortgage in that economy”, he explained.

He said how well Nigerians use land will determine whether it remains a third world or cross to the first world as the country is seating on a lot of dead capital in form of lands.

The Governor added that there is a need to formalize all land transactions in a way that it would become a medium of acceptable international business that bankers can accept and deal with.

He reminded that from medieval times when government did not take direct roles, traditional institutions managed the land on its behalf.

Governor Fashola explained that the land Use Act has been in operation before its promulgation in the northern part of the country then described as the land tenure system.

He restated that there is no where in the world where the governments would not have one role or the other to play in land administration, adding that you cannot deal with land except the government knows.

The Governor said in terms of cost of land, when a cursory look is taken at the allocation given to a successful applicant, the least of the cost paid by such a person is premium which is the price at which the state sells the land.

He added that all other cost is dependent upon the private individual’s decision to be a title holder.

He identified stamp duty, registration fees and capital gain tax as taxes which are legislations created by laws distinct from the Land Use Act as a means of ensuring that property owners pay some ad valorem taxes and help to support the infrastructure that supports the land.

Governor Fashola also said Nigerians must do away with the notion of attempting to provide low income houses as there are no low income cements and iron rods in the market.

He added that instead, the country must strive to create a mortgage system that would work and make housing accessible to citizens who have steady source of income rather than buying houses on a cash and carry basis.

In his contribution, the Chairman of the Security and Exchange Commission, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma asserted that the Land Use Act is an impediment which should be reviewed by taking it out of the constitution and made a regular act which can be amended when the need arises.

The Director General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Professor Ndi Okereke Onyiuke promised to ensure that the SEC convenes a conference of governors where Governor Fashola would make a presentation on tackling some of the thorny issues of land reforms in Nigeria.

The session also received presentations from Mr Sam Anani, former Managing Director of Tinapa Resort Limited and Mr Sonnie Ayere, Managing Director of UBA Global Markets Limited

In wrapping up the session, Dr Timi Austen Peters said from the various submissions at the forum, it is evident that the Land Use Act does not need to be abolished but the issue of how it is being implemented should be revisited.