Critical Examination on Land Use and Allocation Procedure
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
United Nations Conference on Human Settlements [Habitat 1], held in Vancouver, May 31- June 11 1976, item 10 of the Conference Report stated unequivocally, the UN’s official policy on land: ‘Land cannot be treated as an ordinary asset, controlled by individuals and subject to the pressures and inefficiencies of the market. Private land ownership is also a principal instrument of accumulation and concentration of wealth and therefore contributes to social injustice; if unchecked, it may become a major obstacle in the planning and implementation of development schemes. The provision of decent dwellings and healthy conditions for the people can only be achieved if land is used in the interests of society as a whole. Public control of land is therefore indispensable…’ In its recommendations [D.1 and 4a], the Report further stated that: ‘ Public ownership and effective control of land in the public interest is the single most important means of…achieving a more equitable distribution of the benefits of development whilst assuring environmental impacts are considered. But, public ownership of land cannot be an end in itself; it is justified in so far as it is exercised in favour of the common good rather than to protect the interests of the already privileged’ The UN’s land policy ought to help correct the erroneous view held by those entrusted with the management of the African State. Which is that, to contend for the return of the traditional rights of the people to their land and its resources and their management is a legitimate right of the people over their natural resources? But this re-orientation of the state to the restoration of the indigenous peoples’ rights to land and its resources has been met with stiff resistance, largely on account of the materialist interests of the state and local/foreign capital in land and its resources. Land policy is a course of action relating to land use or rights over the land adopted and followed by its area of authority, because it is expedient and advantageous to do so. It aims at balancing of interest between government, land owing class and landless class. Within the framework provided by this master goal, five general goals in land policy have been identified (Barlowe, 1985). i. Widespread distribution of ownership, operatorship, occupancy and use rights among the citizens who wish to exercise these rights. ii. Land holding of appropriate size and productive potential to permit a maximizing of production opportunities. iii. Orderly and equitable operating arrangements that encourage efficiency in land-resource use. iv. Arrangements that offer economic opportunities, security and stability to land operators, and v. Arrangements that lead to the development and conservation of land resources Meanwhile, it must be recognized that the list is not all-inclusive and that individual goal can conflict with each other, priorities must be assigned to individual goals at times to indicate the direction in which programs should move when two or more goals are in conflict. A national land policy touches the earth and the lives of a farming people through the system of farming which it supports, or it least permits.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to critical examination on land use and allocation procedure
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information critical examination on land use and allocation procedure. 200 staffs of land and survey, Owerri was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain critical examination on land use and allocation procedure. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of land use and allocation procedure
Summary
This study was on critical examination on land use and allocation procedure. Three objectives were raised which included: To evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the allocation procedures, to identified the achievements and shortcoming of the procedure and to suggest possible means of implementing better land used and allocation procedure. The total population for the study is 200 staffs of ministry of land and survey, Owerri. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made surveyors, directors, administrative staffs and junior staff were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
The formal land acquisition policy has no doubt facilitated massive acquisition of land for development in Owerri. However, today over 40 percent of the acquired land is left undeveloped due to factors ranging from first the weaknesses and lack of political will on the side of the Land Use and Allocation Committee established under section 2 (2) of the Land Use Act in the state for many years. This has hampered the steady and continuous acquisition of land for building purposes. Secondly the state governors do not gave the urgent attention needed to their responsibility of granting consent for land management or mortgaging, there by impeding the development of an efficient land market. Thirdly the state governors use the provision requiring their consent for assignment or mortgaging as a means of acquiring land cheaply in order to reward party loyalist. On the other hand it is a device for imposing heavy charges on political enemies before granting such consent to develop acquired land. The growing gap between periods of development of the formal acquired lands has led to new face of informality. Thus, in line with the result of the study, this paper recommends measures that will eliminate problems associated with formal land acquisition policy
Recommendation
Good participatory land administration. Any land administration that misses the participatory attributes referred to as popular participation by plot owners association is likely to miss the connection between policies and programme and its intended beneficiaries. The first area land administration can be improve upon is active integration of the plot owners association and their organisations into the provisions of land administration to improve governance in Greater owerri Region. Generally, the success rate of land administration implementation in Nigeria can be improved by giving more attention to plot owners’ association integration and participation right from the planning and design stage of the interventions. b) There is a general need to institute and reinforce definite standards on transparency, accountability and effectiveness into land-related public sector management in Nigeria. This can be achieved in owerri Region of Nigeria through target-driven partnership involving plot owners associations, State Ministry of Lands and Survey and Traditional Council as well as the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) or any such organisation established by the Federal Government of Nigeria. c) The Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reform can consider the integration of priorities of plot owners associations and new settlers (incoming and inborn) into new communities, through transparency, accountability, rule of law, equity and effective formal and informal land management practices and services.
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