Time to check Land Use Act abuse, says NITP president

By Dada Jackson

The need for a strong institution to be put in place in order to check perceived abuse by custodians of the Land Use Act has been advocated.

The President of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Mr Toyin Ayinde, stated this in an exclusive interview with Newstrends.

According to him, the Act which came into existence in 1976 vested the control of land in a state on the Crown, i.e. the Governor.

He said the Act which came into being for the purpose of regulating the indiscriminate sale of land in any given state, might have been abused in the past by some state governors.

He was however quick to point out that the argument by some people that most state governors were fond of using it as a tool to haunt some perceived political opponents is neither here nor there.

The NITP helmsman said that in most of the states in the southern part of the country, a Land Allocation Committee is usually constituted for the sole purpose of advising the governor on the allocation of land.

His words: “It will be a herculean task for any governor to want to use the Land Use Act to victimise anybody considering the huge number of recommendations for approval sent to him on a daily basis.

“The only time this can happen is perhaps when such application is channelled through him and this rarely occurs.”

Ayinde however advocated that a strong institution should be put in place in order to mitigate the tendency for abuse.

He said when a strong institution is put in place, it would make the people less-dependent on an individual who after he leaves office, another person comes with a different agenda.