Generally, the Land Use Act (1978) specifically vests the ownership of all lands in Nigeria in the Governor of the respective states. The same Act also requires that any person who wants to alienate or transfer his land must obtain Governor’s consent to make the transaction valid in accordance with the Land Use Act. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the purchase or transfer of property in Lagos state has been greatly hindered by the activities of Land grabbers, otherwise known as the Omo Onile.

The practice of land grabbing entails the use of force, threats or violence to take possession or prevent a purchaser from acquiring legitimate interest and possession of property unless certain conditions are fulfilled. The said conditions are usually in the form of excessive levies or fines. Failure to adhere to the demands of the land grabbers in most cases result to the destruction any development on the land, or prevention of the land owner from taking possession.

In a bid to curb the unscrupulous activities of the Land grabbers in Lagos State, the Lagos State government recently signed into Law, a Law to prohibit forceful entry and illegal occupation of landed properties, as well as violent and fraudulent conducts in relation to landed properties in Lagos State. This new Law, known as the Lagos State Property Protection Law 2016 protects the proprietary rights of Land and Property owners in Lagos State and also criminalizes actions of forceful and unlawful entry or occupation of premises. Some of the key provisions the widely applauded Law are provided below:

Section 2 of the Law prohibits the use of force, threats or self-help to take over any landed property, or engage in any act inconsistent with the proprietary right of the owner. Additionally, persons who have used force to take over the property of another and remains in possession after the commencement of the Law shall be held to have committed an offence and liable to ten (10) years imprisonment.

Under Section 3 any person who without lawful authority, for himself or another, uses or threatens violence for the purpose of securing entry into any landed property commits an offence, notwithstanding whether the person using or threatening the use of force has a right over that property. Any offender under this section is liable to imprisonment for a term of 10 (ten) years.

Section 4 provides that any person who occupies a property as an encroacher and fails to leave the property upon a request by the owner, commits an offence punishable upon conviction with a fine not exceeding five million Naira or 5 (five) years’ imprisonment, or both. More importantly, Section 8 criminalizes any offer by any person to sell a property for which he has no lawful title or the requisite authority to sell. The same section also prohibits the sale or offer for sale of land that has been previously sold, without a court judgment repudiating the earlier sale. Any person found guilty of this offence is liable to pay a fine prescribed under the Law, or imprisonment or both, and the property resold to another shall revert to the lawful owner. Additionally, this section prohibits the sale of family land without the consent of the family head and other accredited members of the family; and the sale of government land or property without the consent or authority of the State.

Whilst the above represents only a fraction of the Law, it is important to note that this Law applies to the whole of Lagos State, unlike most Lagos State Property Laws limited to specific parts of the State.

The Lagos State Property Protection Law has been widely applauded as it has the potential to boost property transactions in Lagos State. However, it is pertinent to state that the essence of this Law will be defeated if the Lagos state government fails to proactively enforce it. An example that comes to mind is the Lagos Tenancy Law of 2011 which, amongst other things, prohibits landlords from demanding from a new or sitting tenant rent in excess of one year. Till date, the said Tenancy Law is openly and widely flouted and there has not been any reported case of prosecution and conviction of offenders under the Law. That said, in view of the promising nature of this Law, efforts must be made to ensure that the Law is enforced, the offenders are duly prosecuted, as this will greatly encourage real estate investment in Nigeria.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

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Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode on Monday signed a new law outlawing land grabbing in and extortion of money from land developers in the state. The properties protection law was enacted as the appropriate response to the menace of locals, popularly called Omo-Oniles, who are mainly the original or earliest inhabitants of the different areas of the state. The Omo-Oniles have for long posed a huge threat to land owners and property developers in the state.

On paper, this new response couched in the “law to prohibit forceful entry and illegal occupation of landed properties, violent and fraudulent conducts in relation to landed properties in Lagos State and for connected purposes,” is a deviation from the traditional norm of treating the miscreants, who are generally seen as the nemesis of land developers, with kid gloves. Also judged from its contents, the new law is a big blow to the power of the Omo-Oniles.

In practice, however, the new legislation is largely a reframing of various extant statutes that outlaw the wilful obstruction of legitimate property and land transactions. The Criminal Law of Lagos State contains several provisions that prohibit attempts to dispossess people of their legitimate property or disrupt their lawful use of land.

The Lagos State government set up a taskforce in June to check the menace of land-grabbing in the state. During the inauguration of the taskforce, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, said the Ambode administration was determined to apply the full weight of the law to permanently address the Omo-Onile issue, saying the havoc and unrest they have caused residents is no longer acceptable.

Kazeem said henceforth, anybody who used threat or intimidation to dispossess people of their legitimate property will be punished in accordance with Sections 52, 53 and 281 of the Criminal Law of the state. It is doubtful if the taskforce has been effective – and even more doubtful if many people in the state are aware of its existence.

Definitely, what will make the difference is the courageous enforcement of the new property protection law.
Miscreants among the aboriginal communities in the state have almost immemorially constituted an ever-present nightmare for land buyers and property developers. They have appeared at virtually every stage of land and property development to make illegal, frustrating, and, sometimes, impossible demands. They have also formed themselves into bands of land-grabbers who go about dispossessing legitimate owners of land of their property.

The Omo-Oniles have maintained a rather complicated relationship with the politicians and security agencies, a situation that more often than not, makes their victims mostly helpless.

The killing in October last year of the managing director of the Lekki Free Zone Limited, Mr. Tajudeen Disu, marked a painful culmination of a long reign of terror by criminals among the earliest inhabitants of the state. Disu was among persons killed as Ibeju-Lekki villagers and riot police clashed at Okunraiye community, near Ibeju-Lekki, on the morning of October 12 last year.

The villagers said they were on a peaceful demonstration against the forceful takeover of their land by the Lagos State government when policemen called in by the government attacked the protesters, killing two of them. They said the killing resulted in commotion. Disu, reportedly, died in the melee, as the police officers guarding him and protesting villagers clashed. A policeman and two villagers were said to have also died in the crisis.
The land in question was for the Lekki Free Zone Limited and construction of a petrochemical refinery by Africa’s richest businessman, Aliko Dangote.

But the police said Disu was lynched by angry villagers who had mobilised to violently prevent any construction on the site, as “They claimed that they did not sell their land to Dangote refinery.”

The Lagos State government and the security agencies are still trying to piece together that tragic culmination in the Lekki Free Trade Zone initiative. But the Omo-Oniles were not deterred. They have carried on with gusto, becoming even bolder and fiercer in their campaign of violent obstructionism and extortion targeted at land buyers and developers.
Many Lagos residents, especially land owners, welcome the land-grabbing prohibition law. But they remain sceptical due to the obvious practical constraints in the enforcement of the law.

There are fears that the new law may not be really effective because of the ostensibly blurred line between the Omo-Oniles, who the law is supposed to restrain, and locals frequently employed by politicians as foot soldiers in the hunt for votes during elections. It is a generally appreciated fact that the Omo-Oniles form a veritable electoral base for many politicians in the state. The concern is that state officials and politicians may find it difficult to stand by and let their offending foot soldiers face the full weight of the law.
It is hard to determine how able and willing the political class in the state would be to buck pressure from the Omo-Oniles when the chips are down.

Generally, however, there is no doubt that the Lagos State land-grabbing prohibition law represents a crucial and commendable step in the efforts to deter what has become the state’s biggest threat to land development. But the government would need to do more to reassure the public that it is not on a mission to merely whitewash the crude power of the land-grabbers and extortionists.

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The first law that comes to mind is the most popular of them all, “the land use act”.

The land use act essentially states that all land in Nigeria belongs to the government. And that the government only lease the land to individuals or corporate bodies as appropriate for a period of 99 years.
This means that when the government issues a certificate of occupancy or C of O to you for a property purchased, the C of O is only for a period of 99 years. What happens after 99 years?
That question is still the subject of great debate among Nigerians. As it is, the first set of C of O were issued sometime in 1976 when the land use act came into effect. Let’s see what happens when the first set of certificate of occupancy issued by the government expires.

This real estate law is often responsible for the question by potential real estate buyers, “what is the quality of the title on the property?” By that they mean how old is the C of O?

A new C of O has a life of 99 years before the government withdraws it or demand renewal. A property that has a C of O that is 30 years old has a life of only 69 years left.
Some people don’t consider this when considering buying homes for sale in Lagos Nigeria whereas some try to negotiate a lower sale price based on the life of the C of O. This is entirely up to you.
Another real estate law or property law to consider is “the right of way”.

This basically states that “the government has right of way” . . . the right to create roads as appropriate for economic development.

The government has a master plan for every area of Lagos Nigeria. In the same vein, every other state of the federation, as well as the federal government, have master plan for different locations in the country. Each location has provision for road and utilities like pipe borne water, telephone lines, underground waterway, high tension power line, oil pipeline route etc

If you build residential real estate or commercial property on any of these government development areas, the government will eventually pull down your property.

It will be very sad to lose your property, built with hard earned money, because you failed to investigate the ownership of a property as appropriate with the Lagos state government.

A third real estate law or Lagos property law to bear in mind is what I call the “distance to government road rule”.

In effect, this law states that each property owner should leave a distance of at least 30 metres between the walls of his property fence and the road. (Some say its 50 metres. Please confirm from your real estate attorney ).

If you don’t obey the distance to road rule, nothing may happen immediately. The government is usually slow in reacting to such violations.

However, when the government decides to expand the road, your fence will be taken down without apology if you have violated the “distance to road” rule.

Know some more property laws?

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