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| Title: | Oil and the Niger Delta people: the injustice of the Land Use Act |
| Author: | Ebeku, Kaniye S.A. |
| Year: | 2002 |
| Periodical: | Verfassung und Recht in Übersee |
| Volume: | 35 |
| Issue: | 2 |
| Pages: | 201-231 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Nigeria |
| Subjects: | land law petroleum |
| Abstract: | Various Nigerian statutory (and constitutional) provisions vest all the natural resources of the country in the State. The State has the sole right to receive oil revenue (rents, taxes and royalities). Prior to 1978, the land tenure system of the southern part of Nigeria (as distinct from the system in the northern part) was based on various customary laws; essentially, families and communities mostly owned land. The result was that while oil is vested in the State, the land from which it was exploited was vested in various families/communities. As a consequence, oil multinational companies which had obtained appropriate mining license were obliged to approach the owners of the land involved in order to get access to the land. In this way, the customary landowners participated somehow in the exploitation of oil resource as they were usually paid compensation for granting access. Additionally, they received compensation for any damage occasioned to the land as a result of the activities of the oil companies. However, in 1978 the military government promulgated a real property law, called the Land Use Act (the law was made and is still a part of the Nigerian constitution). This law (extending the existing position in the northern part of the country) vests 'all land' in the country in the State, thereby divesting the customary owners of their original title. Consequently, oil companies no longer have to approach families/communities for a right of access to land (whiich they now get through the State). Moreover, the Land Use Act has been interpreted to deny the families/communities the right to compensation, notwithstanding the amount of damage the oil companies cause to them. This article analyses the relevant provisions of the Land Use Act (LUA) and concludes that its overall impact on the Niger Delta people borders on gross injustice. Notes, ref., sum. (p. 179-180). |
