Elias, 1971, caused deep conflicts between the customary system of land tenure and imported freehold system, which resulted in endless and bitter litigation. Customary tenancy is defined as people who are not members of the family but have on application been given family land to occupy on payment of yearly customary tributes ogedengbe, 2006. Uganda is relatively a vast country with lots of unutilized and underutilized land. However the northern protectorate was saved the experience of southern nigeria. Land tenure, land use and land acquisition in nigeria. The assumption underlying both the reception of english law and the retention of customary law was that both would be. The only part of the sharia it was ready to concede was the socalled law. Land tenure constraints associated with some recent experiments to. Land nationalisation and rural land tenure in southwest nigeria. Customary land tenure system has been defined as the system of. This document provides an empirical picture of the causes and effects of tenurerelated disputes between private sector actors and local peoples across different regions and sub. Prior to 1978, nigerias system of customary land tenure provided families and individuals with use rights to rural land for agriculture and urbantown plots for housing that were heritable within families and lineages. Evidence from uturu, nigeria uchendu eugene chigbu and michael klaus, germany.
The development and application of sharia in northern nigeria. Also in 1916, the niger lands transfer act was enacted. Examining the relationship with landuse planning delivery. Doc land tenure in southern nigeria olutola abisoye. The major problem facing our rural land development is the negative effects which have come with introduction of land use act, 1978 in nigeria. Insecuritygenerating system of land tenure and its impact on rural development. May 11, 2003 ghanas land tenure system impedes the countrys socioeconomic development, and is completely out of place in a modern, progressive country. Land tenure system in nigeria and its effects on land. The paper further contends that the present land ownership system in nigeria as. Nigeria s total population of 70 million inhabitants live in rural areas, which explains how extremely important any measures concerning land change are in this country. According to mabogunje 2002, the thrust of the act was largely to extend the northern system of land management to the whole country as a means of ensuring easier access to land for government and, ostensibly for individuals. When cash crops become dominant the status is generally changed and this seems to be the case in most areas.
The indigenous land tenure and nationalization of land in. Colonialism and knowledge about land tenure in northern nigeria. The law granted the natives of northern nigeria the right to own land for a limited number of years. But the system of land tenure described in the northern nigeria lands committees report did not exist as such at least, not if the committees representation. First, it encouraged the practice of multiple sales of the same land to different buyers by landowning families in the absence of titling and appropriate registration mechanisms for transaction in land.
Nigeria landlinks landlinks was created by e3land, a. Land policies and agricultural productivity in nigeria reports of ukaejiofo 2007 and olayiwola and adeleye 2006 showed that traditional tenure system placed major constraints upon the achievement of efficient agricultural production and physical development, which led to land use. However, the british colonial administration passed the land and native proclamation ordinance in. Findings the study has revealed that land tenure insecurity is still widespread in southern africa. In other words, land tenure system implies a system according to which land is held by an individual or the actual tiller of the land.
This act dedared the whole ofthe lands of northern nigeria, whether occupied or not. The land problem in namibia is a direct result of the land policy of the apartheid colonial system that created imbalances in property relations in the territory. The indigenous land tenure and nationalization of land in nigeria. Its components are the system of land ownership and system of labour organization. This article focuses on the cultural translation of land tenure and property in colonial northern nigeria, as legal paradigms and principles of governance. The customary tenure in northern nigeria suffered early dis ruptions by the. Interethnic conflicts and their impact on national. Notwithstanding the existence of laws regulating land, the problems of land tenure and land administration persisted both in the northern and southern nigeria.
Beginning in the early colonial period, western paradigms came to shape the ways colonial authorities understood indigenous landholding, which in turned influenced how they governed small. In general, traditional land tenure was based on customary laws under which land was considered community property. The first part of this paper describes the land tenure system in northern nigeria and the way in which it affects pastoral nomads and plans for their settlement. Comparative analysis of key trends and contextual factors. The individualnative may sell, mortgage or transfer the land subject to the ministers approval. Dec 27, 2018 land tenure is another phrase for land ownership, frequently used outside of the united states. Mcdowell introduction english law, as limited or modified, applies as one of the residual systems of law in northern nigeria, the other being customary law. Government printer, northern nigeria, 1962 land tenure 26 pages. The presence of fulani pastoralists has fostered a system of overlapping rights between farmers and herders 12. Tenure law of 1962, which governed land tenure in northern nigeria up till.
For convenience, land is used here to include other natural resources such as water and trees. See generally onwuamaegbu, nigerian law of landlord and tenant, 1966. An individual had usufructuary rights to the land he farmed in his lineage or community area. Tenure may be based both on official laws and policies, and on informal customs. In other words, land administration involves both the technical. Insecurity generating system of land tenure and its impact. Lord lugard who occupied northern nigeria at the turn of 19th century used the tools he found. Land administration and policy issues in the nigerian.
The traditional land tenure systems are also under pressure due to national legislation. Land tenure system in ekiti state, nigeria 7607 felix ajibade nigeria fig working week 2015 from the wisdom of the ages to the challenges of the modern world sofia, bulgaria, 1721 may 2015 310 ekiti state, nigeria 2. The land tenure law of 1962 was repealed, and land use decree of 1978 was implemented. Land nationalisation and rural land tenure in southwest nigeria paul francis humid zone programme ilca, p. This is the system of landholding indigenous to nigeria. Types of land tenure systems in uganda land ownership in uganda.
Land tenure system in nigeria has been described as those systems which represent the relationship of man in society to land even though actual patterns may differ from community to community but there are certain uniformities of type in relations involved which make it possible to apply a common scheme of analysis 1 6. The land tenure system of southern nigeria created a number of problems for land management in the country. We examinevarious concepts relating to land and land tenure, on the one hand, and land management and acquisition on the other, in the light of the old system the customary. Land administration and policy issues in the nigerian scenario. These laws were applied in each region to regulate land in the region. In most of the northern states of nigeria muslim law has so much ascendancy that it is difficult to separate customary law from muslim doctrine. The land tenure law continues to apply throughout the northern states of nigeria, the functions of the minister being exercised by civil servants. Land tenure and related institutions gender and land rights. At customary law, ownership of land is generally vested in the village, community or family with the head holding it for the use of the whole village, community or family respectively. Societal formation and the evolution of land tenure system in the.
After independence in 1960, the government of northern nigeria enacted a new law titled land tenure law 1962. In northern nigeria, the indigenous land tenure system as of 1804 had already been replaced by tenure system based on muslim maliki law that vested ownership and control of land into the ruling class. Meeting on land tenure systems and sustainable development in southern africa held 1 3 october 2003, in lusaka, zambia, and their comments have been incorporated into this report. The interpretation of the land tenure law of northern nigeria. The colonial power also abolished the economic system built around the institution of zakat. Tenure in south western nigeria as regulated by customary law had its roots in the traditional conception of land. Access to land as a constraint to the settlement of nomads land tenure in northern nigeria 2. How could the same land tenure system accommodate the largescale transition from food crops into cocoa at the opening of the 20th century and so dramatically inhibit investment in land productivity in the same area at the. The following are the types of land tenure systems in uganda as enshrined in the 1995 ugandan constitution. This land tenure system of southern nigeria created a number of problems for land. The colonial policy of property relations, including land tenure and access to land, were based on racial lines and were implemented by legislation. Land tenure, due to its complex nature, causes many disputes and is strongly influenced by the settlement pattern ellen, 1978. Two of these operated nationwide while the others followed the usual north. Statement of the problems the present condition of our rural land developments in nigeria has been a cause for concern in this study.