As black Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria struggles with perennial hyper inflation, she will need to invest about $2.3 trillion over the next 30 years to bridge existing infrastructural gap.
A frontline estate surveyor and valuer and former president, International Right of Way Association (IRWA) Chapter 84, Nigeria, Dr. Emmanuel Mark, told the 69th Educational Conference of IRWA in Denver, Colorado, United States that this is as the country’s Land Use Act (1979) prevents effective land acquisition and compensation for faster development.
A fellow of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Mark is the Head of Practice (CEO) at Nuel Mark & Partners, an estate surveying and valuation firm headquartered in Port Harcourt.
He spoke on a paper titled, “The Right of Way Milieu – Challenges to Infrastructure Development in Nigeria,” in which he called for urgent intervention to address issues of Right of Way (ROW), land administration, valuation and compensation for infrastructural development projects in Nigeria.
According to him, with the population of Nigeria now estimated at 221 million and a projected to hit about 400 million by 2050, the nation needs to invest about $2.3 trillion over the next 30 years to bridge her infrastructural deficit.
Mark identified major weaknesses of laws adminstering land acquisition which he insisted is one of most significant banes of development in the West African largest country.
He said: “Revocation of Right of Occupancy implies the fact that landowners have occupancy rights that can be revoked, hence, should be duly acknowledged and compensated.
“Other challenges include issues of delayed payment as provided by the law. The Land Use Act did not establish a deadline for payment of compensation.
“There is also the challenge of building structures along the ROW to receive compensation for land, which has created additional bottlenecks.”
He therefore, called on the President Bola Tinubu-led administration to activate a process of review of the Land Use Act (1979) and bring in the necessary reforms if infrastructural development is to be fasten up.
Insisting that major challenges of RoW in Nigeria border on the manner of revocation or acquisition of land by state governors, the renowned real estate expert argued that all enabling laws must be amended to make compensation payable not only for unexhausted improvements on land but only for the land itself as a store of value.
“The value of land must be considered and the required compensations should be paid before possession. I have always noted that ROW acquisition should not just be the power of the government to revoke and acquire, but the process by which that power is exercised.
“Therefore, the process, in my opinion, must include consultations, negotiation, publicity (gazette and advert), valuation and submission of claims, payment of compensation and possession, including dispute resolution.
“Governments at state and federal levels, as well as housing developers need to conduct Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) before takeover to deal with issues associated with project impact on land rights and management,” he said.
