Business
Estate Surveyors Demand Review Of Land Use Act

The Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) has pressed on its demand for the review of the Land Use Act in Nigeria.
National President, NISEV, Esv.Rowland Abonta, made this demand at the NIESV Mandatory Continuing Professional Seminar which doubled as the 50th Anniversary celebration of the association in Abuja.
Abonta stated that the institution planned to set up an advocacy bridge to the government towards the review of the Land Use Act in the country.
He said NIESV has, over the years, made series of presentations to various Assemblies nationwide, on the matter with the recommendation that the land act be withdrawn from the nation’s constitution for proper amendment in conformity with the current economic realities of the country.
According to him, Land law is a proactive and dynamic law which cannot be embedded in the constitution without review since 1978 till date with the skyrocketing rate of economic development, population increase and other needs of the nation.
“Land affects everything because it is a major source of production that determines where all activities take place.
“So, such a vital issue cannot be entrenched when it fosters possible dynamic changes that would bring economic development for the nation and also affect the destiny of the people, businesses and organisations,” he said.
He noted that only about 10 percent of Nigerians have access to allocation of land across the country while the other 90 per cent purchase lands.
He explained that when the lands are taken from land owners by government or wealthy individuals, the land owners are only paid the rate of rent for the current year of forceful acquisition by authorities, without adequate compensation for the previous rents and other sundry expenses incurred by the land owners.
According to him, It is an abuse of fundamental human rights perpetrated by the government which is an institution that is supposed to both promote and protect such rights.
Abonta criticised the evaluation of the same value of land rate across the six geo-political zones of the country, noting that such evaluation should be done according to the development of areas which is the determinant of land value.
He lamented the non-chalant attitude of the federal legislators concerning the matter, which he said, have been tendered several times at the floor of the House of Representatives and urged them to be responsive to the land use act.
In his presentation, Professor Victor Akujuru of the Department of Estate Management, Rivers State University, said that Land Use Act only specifies the compensation for economic plants and trees without accurate value for land.
“The law needs to be amended so that people will be properly compensated for the land which a building is standing on and market value should also be used in determining the compensation rate for buildings,” he said.
The university don said Nigeria’s economy and property market were distinct from any other society and should determine the value of both natural and market forces.
Tonye Nria-Dappa