The Land Use Act, was promulgated
by the Federal Military Government during the require of Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo
as Land Use Decree (No. 6. 1978) and later transformed into an Act; Land Use
Act Cap. 202 LFN, 1990 (Now Land Use Act cap L5 vol. 8 LFN; 2004).
The Act was entranced in the 1979
constitution and
subsequently in the instant 1999 constitution as one of the existing Laws. The main purpose of the
Act was stated by the Head of state in his national broadcast at the time the
Act was promulgated as follows:
“The main purpose of the Decree
is to make Land for development available to all including individuals,
corporate bodies, institutions and governments ….. fast economic and social
development at all levels and in all the parts of our country is our main
purpose.”
After setting out the broadcast
of Gen. Obasanjo and the terms of the preambles to the Act, Ekpu summarized the internment of the Act as follows:
1. The provision of a Uniform Land Tenure System in the country
2. To
make land easily and cheaply available to all Nigerians and the government for
development purposes and
3. To
check the practice of land speculations whereby some wealthy individuals
indulged in a lucrative trade in land.