Nigeria's Land Use Act: an anti-thesis to environmental justice

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Periodical article

Title:	Nigeria's Land Use Act: an anti-thesis to environmental justice
Author:	Ako, Rhuks T.
Year:	2009
Periodical:	Journal of African Law
Volume:	53
Issue:	2
Pages:	289-304
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Nigeria
Subjects:	land law land tenure environmental degradation petroleum industry minority groups violence
Abstract:	Nigeria's Land Use Act, promulgated in 1978, is perhaps the most controversial legislation in the country. The Act, originally promulgated as a decree and annexed to the country's constitution, was ostensibly made to nationalize landholding in the country. However, the peculiar impact of the Act on the inhabitants of the Niger Delta region that hosts upstream activities of the oil industry has led to assertions that the Act was made specifically to deprive those inhabitants of the right to participate actively in the oil industry. This article examines the impact of the Act on the right of inhabitants to access justice, particularly with regard to the politically marginalized indigenes of the Niger Delta region, who are not among Nigeria's 'majority' ethnic groups. The Act obstructs their rights to environmental justice and is a fundamental cause of the violent conflicts that pervade the region. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]