The Land Use Decree 1978 and Land Ownership in Nigeria

The Land Use Decree 1978 is a basic law. Contrary to the expectations of its opponents, the Land Use Decree has survived six successive governments since its inception in 1978. Politicians who had promised during election campaigns to abrogate the law, surprisingly turned around to defend and protect it when they came to power. The formulation and implementation of this enigmatic legislation is presented in this book. The main features of the book include a review of the land situation in Nigeria that prompted the Federal Government to set up the Land Use Panel of 1977 and the views expressed in the Minority Report of the Land Use Panel. My study in 1986 of the issues in the implementation of the Land Use Decree revealed that the popular acclamation that greeted the decree in 1978, had been replaced by widespread dis-illusion caused by the shoddy implementation of the law. The inexplicable role of the Judiciary in compounding the problems of administering the Land Use Decree is presented in chapter 10. Chapter 11 considers the work that the Nigeria Law Reform Commission did in producing the Land Use Law 2014 which is certainly more people friendly than the original Land Use Decree.