The Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) has urged the government at all levels to expunge the Land Use Act from Nigeria’s legal system to remove all bottlenecks that impede the smooth application and documentation of land titles as well as land allocations.
The President and Chairman of NIESV, Johnbull Amayaevbo, declared that quite some clauses in the Act are archaic and no longer fashionable with current trends in the industry.
He said if Nigeria must be ranked high in the World Bank Ranking on Ease of Doing Business, unhindered and easy access to land, landed property, and land title documents must be properly looked into.
Amayaevbo, who spoke to the Media in Ilorin recently, noted that the Federal Government and some State Governments that combined the Ministry of Works and Housing should unbundle them for easy management, adding that the Ministry of Land and Housing should be created instead of the Ministry of Works and Housing being lumped together.
“The Act is long overdue to be removed from the Constitution to amend it easily. You don’t just leave that kind of thing for 45 years on land when lots of things are changing periodically. We plead with both Federal and State Governments to remove it as it will not affect their powers.
“One of the major clauses in that Land Use Act is that the land is entrusted to the citizen of the State and in the Government of that State, remember today you are in the Government and tomorrow you will not be there.
“Land is very important in production and should be seen as a veritable tool for development and growing the economy. Governments have to look inward on land matters, if properly managed, it will have a great impact on our IGR. Government should come up with the Ministry of Land and Housing and not the Ministry of Works and Housing as we have it”, he said.
He, however, asked President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government to take stringent measures against corruption, which he said has eaten deep into almost all the sectors.
