CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF LAND REFORMS IN NIGERIA: ISSUES, CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

Abstract

The life of man and that of the society revolve around land and its resources. Thus, it is apposite that man's fulfillment of his potentials in life depends largely on his relationship with land. The importance of land to human existence provoked intellectual excursion to the relationship between law and land making Land Use Act of 1978 a point of reference. The data for the article were gotten from secondary sources while doctrinal research methodology was adopted. The Study discovered that 1978 Land Use Act was the first of its kind because for the first time, it unified land administrative system in Nigeria under Government. The article concluded that the problems experienced in executing the present reform may be grouped under two broad heads, the problem that emanated from traditional land tenure system and the excursion of the Act itself. The article recommended that the Act should be removed from the Constitution so that amendments to it can be easily affected.