Ownership and Compulsory Acquisition under Customary Land Tenure in South-West Nigeria: A Legal and Socio-Cultural Analysis.

Abstract:

The current research seeks to explore the concept of ownership and compulsory acquisition of land under customary land tenure regime in South West Nigeria with explicit reference to the legal and cultural contexts. The study focuses on the nature and the system of customary land tenure, impact of statutory compulsory acquisition and compensation regimes. Collectively, data was obtained through interviews with community leaders, land owners and legal professionals, using a qualitative research approach, as well as through a doctrinal analysis of statutes laws and customs. The analysis provides evidence of discrepancies in the statutory and customary land laws concerning tenure, and security and compensation. This exercise usually come with the word compulsory, and given that customary landowners rarely have formal documents backing up their land ownership rights they find themselves in a very vulnerable situation. This study identified that compensation mechanisms failed genuinely to address the economic, cultural, and spiritual loss inherent in land, which sustained community concerns. Moreover, a high level of gender disparity still exists in the country, for example, women cannot benefit from statutory laws, nor are they protected in accordance with customary laws. According to the study, there is need to reform and put in place appropriate legislation, adoption of new measures to bring customary land rights into Statutory measures, allocation of funds towards compensation and for the enhancement of participatory governance.