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Nigeria Land Use, Soils, and Land Tenure
In 1990, estimates indicated that 82 million hectares
out of
Nigeria's total land area of about 91 million hectares
were
arable. However, only about 34 million hectares (or 42
percent of
the cultivable area) were being cultivated at the time.
Much of
this land was farmed under bush fallow, a technique
whereby an
area much larger than that under cultivation is left idle
for
varying periods to allow natural regeneration of soil
fertility.
Another 18 million hectares were classified as permanent
pasture,
but much of this land had the potential to support crops.
About
20 million hectares were covered by forests and woodlands.
Most
of this land also had agricultural potential. The
country's
remaining 19 million hectares were covered by buildings or
roads,
or were considered wasteland.
Nigeria's soil is rated from low to medium in
productivity.
However, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United
Nations (FAO) concluded that most of the country's soil
would
have medium to good productivity if this resource were
managed
properly.
Traditional land tenure throughout Nigeria was based on
customary laws under which land was considered community
property. An individual had usufructuary rights to the
land he
farmed in his lineage or community area. He could possess
the
land as long as he used it to his family's or society's
benefit,
and could pass the land on to heirs and pledge its use to
satisfy
a debt, but could not sell or mortgage it. The right of
disposal
belonged only to the community, which, acting through
traditional
authorities, exercised this right in accordance with
customary
law.
The Fulani conquest of much of northern Nigeria in the
early
1800s brought a change in land tenure in areas under
Fulani
control. The conquerors bestowed fiefs on certain
individuals,
who sometimes appointed overseers with the power to
allocate
unused land without regard for local community interests.
One
result was a growing number of grants to strangers during
the
nineteenth century because overseers sought to increase
the
revenue from their landlords' holdings. This practice
gradually
reduced the extent of bush land and encouraged the
migration of
farmers to urban areas that began toward the end of the
nineteenth century.
In the early 1900s, the British established hopemony
over the
Fulani and declared all land in the former Fulani fiefs to
be
public property. Subsequently, in contrast to southern
Nigeria,
where the community owned land in the north the government
required occupancy permits. However, at the same time the
northern authorities were charged with supervision and
protection
of the indigenous population's traditional rights, and a
general
reversion to customary land-tenure practices occurred. In
predominantly Muslim areas, traditional land inheritance
laws
were allowed to remain in force. As a result of the
government's
support of local customary laws, encroachment by outsiders
appears largely to have been halted. In 1962 the
government of
the Northern Region placed formal restrictions on
landholding by
individuals who were not members of a northern community.
In the south, colonial authorities introduced the
concept of
individual ownership of property and authorized the legal
conveyance of land that could be registered with the
government.
Various laws and ordinances gave government the power to
expropriate statutory landholdings in return for
compensation.
Expansion of the money economy and the resulting emphasis
on
commercial crops encouraged farmers to seek private
ownership of
land. Nonetheless, customary tenure remained the principal
form
of landholding throughout Nigeria as late as the early
1970s.
During the 1970s, however, individuals and business
enterprises
drove up land prices, especially in newly urbanized areas,
by
investing heavily in real estate. In the south, customary
owners
turned from land sales to more profitable high-rent
leasing
arrangements. In the north, where land was held only by
permit,
farmers on the outskirts of cities became victims of
developmental rezoning. Their permits were revoked, and,
only
minimally compensated, they moved to other areas. The land
was
then subdivided and sold at high prices.
In response to a potential crisis in land distribution,
the
Federal Military Government promulgated the Land Use
Decree of
March 1978, establishing a uniform tenure system for all
of
Nigeria. Subsequently incorporated in the constitution of
1979,
the decree effectively nationalized all land by requiring
certificates of occupancy from the government for land
held under
customary and statutory rights and the payment of rent to
the
government. However, the decree stipulated that anyone in
a rural
or urban area who normally occupied land and developed it
would
continue to enjoy the right of occupancy, and could sell
or
transfer his interest in the development of the land.
The main purpose of the 1978 decree was to open land to
development by individuals, corporations, institutions,
and
governments. The decree gave state and local governments
authority to take over and assign any undeveloped land.
Occupancy
or possession of undeveloped land by individuals was
restricted.
To prevent fragmentation, the statutory right of occupancy
could
be passed on only to one person or heir.
Data as of June 1991
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