Estate Valuer Seeks Recognition For Traditional Land

An estate surveyor and valuer in Port Harcourt Mr Benjamin Oti, has said that the traditional land ownership should be recognised and given right of way in the scheme of things inspite of the power vested on government in the Land Use Act.

Oti who stated this while reacting to recent developments in the state with respect to urban development and renewal for which land owners and property developers at the rural areas are required to register and survey their properties, said there are Community Lands, which are traditional land and which serve as ancestral home for various groups of people.

He said that such land ownership is still vested on the Community, pointing out that in such places, the issue of land registration, building plan approval and possession of certificate of occupancy might not be necessary, since it falls within the traditional home of the people.

According to Oti who is a member of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) Rivers State branch, and specialist in environmental management “Every body in Nigeria comes from a place known as their traditional homes, irrespective of whether in government or not, including those from urban and developed communities. How many people has gotten plan approval or C of O for their building”.

His views agree with the submission of Dr Nuhu Mohammad, a lecturer in the estate management department of the Federal University of Teaching Minna in Niger State over Land Use Act and traditional land.

Nuhu, in his lecture delivered at the Mandatory Continuous Professional Development (MCPD) of the NIESV in Port Harcourt late last year, posited that the assumption that the Land Use Act has transferred ownership of land to state governors is not true, as there are still traditional land owned and managed by the communities.

Corlins Walter