By Sarauniya g Usman,Abuja
The Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON) has called for the review of institutional framework for land administration in the country.
The board made the call on at the weekend in a paper submitted at the 27th Conference of Directors of Lands in the Federal and Stat Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in Abuja.
The theme of the 27th conference is `The Land Use Act and Land Management Responsibilities of the Federating Units’ and is scheduled to hold from Oct. 12 to Oct. 13.
According to the board the Land Use Act (LUA) of 1978 is the current land law and is applicable throughout the country.
“The main objective of the legislation are to unify the land tenure system in the country; “Remove or ameliorate some of the problems associated with the customary land tenure system and at the same time make land easily accessible to the government and individuals without hindrance.
“However, in spite of the revolutionary nature of the Act and it’s vesting ownership on the state, the difficulty in locating the place of radical title to land as a result of conflict between some provisions of the Act and it’s internments has further heightened insecurity of tenure in Nigeria.
“The LUA provides that each governor shall be advised in the management of all land in the urban area by the Land Use and Allocation Committee (LUAC) set up at the state level and Land Allocation Advisory Committee (LUAC) at the local government level.
“Unfortunately most of the states in Nigeria do not have LUAC but at the Federal level there exists LUAC.”
The board therefore advised that since land being the greatest asset owned by many nations has the potential of being the vehicle for national development a review of the institutional framework for land administration.
Also improvement in Land Titling, Reducing Bureaucracy in Land Administration, Combating Corruption, Recruitment and Training of Adequate Personnel and De-Politicisation of Land Administration System.
On his part,Director, Lands and Housing Development, Mr Godwin Ityoachimin,
said efforts of the Federal Government in providing housing and infrastructure have been impaired by illegal actions of state officials.
He called on the stakeholders to leverage on the theme to provide guidelines in attaining optimal performance and effective land administration process for wealth creation and empowerment of Nigerians.
Meanwhile earlier in his remarks at the opening ceremony, the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola represented by Mr Godwin Ityoachimin urged the directors to consider the wide range of views and opinions held by various stakeholders and build a consensus on the necessity for effective land administration.
The conference is an annual gathering that affords the directors an opportunity to deliberate and share experiences on critical matters relating to land management.