The Land Use Act, 1978, is a product of the inherent contradictions of the colonial and neo-colonial dependent, pseudo-capitalist economic structures established in Nigeria since colonial times. By the 1970s these contradictions became so seŕious that they threatened to become a clog on the growth of the capitalist economy. If such contradictions were allowed to reach a nodal point, conditions for the self-negation of the existing socio-economic and legal order would have ensued. The legislature, it would seem, narrowly identified the problem with private ownership of lands from its own class perspective, that is without a scientific conception of the problems in terms of ownership in the theory of social relations. A scientific conception of the problems would have revealed the essence of the difficulties as relating, not merely to the procedural aspects of private ownership of the lands, such as certainty of title, registration of title, etc., but concerning the institution of private ownership as an economic and legal category around which the exploitation of man by man is organised in class-divided societies.
Such a scientific perception of the problems would have demanded a lasting solution that not only abolished private ownership rights in land but also abolished private ownership of other means of production. The socialisation of all means of production would have amounted to a holistic approach to the solution of the problems in the interest of the nation as a whole.
Type Research Article Information Journal of African Law , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , Spring 1988 , pp. 1 - 43 Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1988Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)
1 Customary right of occupancy is defined under section 50(1) as “the right of a person or community lawfully using or occupying land in accordance with customary law and includes a customary right of occupancy granted by a Local Government under this Decree.”
Statutory right of occupancy is also defined under the same section as “a right of occupancy granted by the Military Governor under this Decree.”
2 Ezejiofor , G. , “The Land Use Decree: A Critique.” Paper presented at an International Seminar in New York, 09 , 1980 Google Scholar .
3 See Balogun v. Oshodi ( 1929 ) 10 N.L.R. 36 at 42 Google Scholar .
4 See Yu. Plentnikov , K. , “Social Relations”, (in) Philosophy in the U.S.S.R.: Problems of Historical Materialism , Moscow , 1981 , 52 at 64 Google Scholar .
5 See for example, Lewis v. Bankole ( 1901 ) 1 N.L.R. 82 Google Scholar ; Balogun v. Oshodi ( 1929 ) 10 N.L.R. 36 Google Scholar ; Coker v. Animashawun [ 1960 ] L.L.R. 71 Google Scholar ; Alade v. Aborishade [ 1962 ] W.N.L.R. 74 etcGoogle Scholar .
6 Elias , T. O. , Nigerian Land Law , London , 1971 , 7 Google Scholar .
7 Bentsi-Enchill , Kwamena , Ghana land law , London , 1964 , 41 Google Scholar . See also Sarbah , J. M. , Fanti Customary Laws , London , 1968 , 3rd ed. , 62 Google Scholar , where he writes: “The village community is a corporate body, of which the members are families, or family groups, residing in the several household, and including the joint as well as patriarchal families.” For further discussion of the issue, see the following; Allott , A. N. , “Legal personality in African Law,” (in) Ideas and Procedures in African Customary Law , London , 1969 , 179 Google Scholar ; Woodman , Gordon , “The family as a corporation in Ghana and Nigerian Law,” 11 African Law Studies, 1 – 36 Google Scholar ; Danquah , J. B. , Akan Laws and Custom , London , 1928 , 200 Google Scholar ; Kludze , A. P. K. , Ewe Law of Property , London , 1973 , chapter 5Google Scholar ; Ollennu , N. A. , Principles of Customary Land Law in Ghana , London , 1962 , Chap. 2Google Scholar ; Lloyd , P. C. , Yoruba Land Law , London , 1962 , 31 – 38 Google Scholar ; Oluyede , P. A. , Nigerian Law of Conveyancing , Ibadan , 1978 , 3 – 5 Google Scholar ; Nwabueze , , Nigerian Land Law , Enugu , 1982 , 32 Google Scholar .