Posted: 2022 | Pages: 131 | Format: MS Word | Chapters: 1-5 | Others: Questionnaires & References

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CHAPTER ONE

 INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Land is a natural resource which is physically fixed; it is the most fundamental resource around which human society heavily depends on. It is not an overstatement to say that without land there would be no human existence. This is because it is from land that man gets items very essential for his survival such as food, clothing, shelter(housing), medication, etc.; this assertion is supported by Omotola (1984) who observed that; “Every person requires land for his support, preservation and self-actualization within the general ideals of the society. According to him, land is the foundation of shelter, food and employment. He noted that man lives on land during his life and upon his demise, his remains are kept in it permanently. He equally stated that even where the remains are cremated, the ashes eventually settle on land. It is therefore crucial to the existence of the individual and the society.

Consequently, it is apparent that the life of man and that of the society revolve around land and its resources. Thus, land, its resources and usage in a nation must be properly regulated. This informed fecund grounds for the establishment of rules and regulations guiding its use. The Land Use Act of 1978 is the current law guiding land use and development in Nigeria. It is a revolutionary legislation in the area of land tenure in Nigeria, which brought the land tenure system in the country under a uniform land policy. The Law was promulgated as Land Use Decree NO. 6 on 29th March 1978 by the then military government under General Olusegun Obasanjo, the then Nigeria Head of State, the Law has the following as its objectives; to effect structural change in the system of land tenure; to achieve fast economic and social transformation; to negate economic inequality caused by the appropriation of rising land values by land speculators and land holders; and to make land available easily and cheaply, to both the government and private individual developers. Under the Act, various laws relating to land tenure in Nigeria which applied prior to the promulgation of the Act were unified into a single legislation. Thus, these various state laws were done away with. Section 1 of the Act vested all land comprised in the territory of each state (except land vested in the federal government or its agencies) solely in the governor of the state, who would ordinarily hold such land in trust for the people and be responsible for allocation of land in all urban areas to individuals resident in the state and to organizations for residential, agriculture, commercial and other purposes, while similar powers with respect to non-urban areas are conferred on local governments.

On the other hand, housing, of which land remains its foundation, literally is defined as buildings or other shelters in which people live, a place to live, a dwelling and to nations, a critical component in social and economic fabric. Housing represents one of the most basic human needs. According to Ebie (2009) it is the first and most important of all rights. To him, because of the importance attached to provision of housing and coupled with the fact that housing in all its ramifications is more than mere shelter since it embraces all social services and utilities that go to make a community or neighbourhood a liveable environment, it is now a right. This probably explains why section 16(2) (d) of the 1999 Constitution under the fundamental objectives of states policy urges the Nigerian State “to provide suitable and adequate shelter for all citizens.” Even though this provision is a herculean task, it reinforces the call for public sector driven mass housing provision in Nigeria. This provision envisages that all strata of a society including the less privileged, the wondering psychotics should own or have access to decent, safe and sanitary housing accommodation at affordable disposal prices or rental with secure tenure.

Housing means shelter to most groups, to others it means more as it serves as one of the best indicators and a measure of a person’s standard of living and his or her place in the society (Nubi, 2008). It is a priority for the attainment of good living standard and it is important to both rural and urban dwellers. As a result, the demand for housing increase as the population increases, especially in the urban areas. The importance of land to the existence of man and the society often influences the state intrusion into property legislation in order to ensure adequate and efficient land management technique and to promote better housing delivery for the benefits of the greatest number of the society. Banire (2006) agreed that; “virtually every form of investment or development by government and private entities is dependent upon land in one way or another. It is now generally accepted that poor land administration can impede economic development and social welfare.” Therefore, no nation can fold its arms and allow its land use management to fall in disarray as “no nation handles the issue of land management within its borders with levity.” Thus, it is pertinent to note that man’s fulfilment of his potentials in life depends to a great extent on his relationship with land, “as it is on land that housing sprout.” Therefore, the Land Use Act of 1978 came to ensure that this relationship is sustained.

The Land Use Decree of 1978 (Now Act) was promulgated purportedly to enable Nigerians have quality access to land and to be able to enjoy not only the land itself but also the natural resource thereon. Though the proponents of this Act believed that this Act would bring about better administration on land matters, such as tenure simplicity, access to land by federal and local governments as well as individuals, implementation of land ceiling, security of certificate of occupancy, assisting consent provisions, lower cost of land transactions and enforcement of development permission among others, regrettably the reverse has been the case. Consequently, this study arises in order to examine immensely the foregoing issues in Land Use Act as it relates to housing delivery and proffer practicable solutions to it with a bid to elevate housing delivery in Enugu urban.