The Major Land Tenure System in Nigeria [Updated]
Interested in Owning land in Nigeria? If your answer is “YES” then you need to know about the land tenure system in Nigeria. As the largest black nation on earth, Nigeria has a land tenure system and they vary based on states, cities, towns, and even villages.
In this article, you will know about the land tenure system in Nigeria, the importance of the land tenure system, rent tenure system, inheritance tenure system and so many other land tenure systems. Read on to stay up-to-date.
Why The Land Tenure System In Nigeria?
Many landowners are not aware of the Nigerian land tenure system, some don’t know such a thing exists. The reason why we have a land tenure system in Nigeria is to put landowners in check i.e. the Nigerian land tenure system regulates the land ownership behavior.
We have different types of land tenure systems in Nigeria and we will be talking about each one of them giving the details on them all.
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Land Tenure System in Nigeria
Below is the list of the major land tenure system in Nigeria:
- The communal land tenure system
- Leasehold tenure system
- Inheritance tenure system
- Gift tenure system
- Rent tenure system
- Tenants in the government will
- Freehold tenure system
1. Communal Land Tenure System
This is the type of land tenure placed under the control of the community thereby making the community the governing power of such land.
With this, the leader of the community will be in charge and he/she makes the necessary decisions on how land ownership and sharing should be. Mind you, such land cant be used as collateral for loan applications, it is the perfect type of land for agricultural activities.
2. Leasehold Tenure System
As the name implies the Leasehold Tenure System is the temporary ownership of land and this power is usually granted by the landlord.
With this in place one can permanently use the land till the lease period is reached, can be used for normal housing or for crop cultivation, or other things the current owner deems fit to use it for.
3. Inheritance Tenure System
This is self-explanatory, simply means after the demise of the landowner then the land ownership is automatically transferred to the next of kin of the landlord.
It is important to know that this kind of tenure system usually ends up in conflicts between the children or relatives of the late owner, it is an inheritance system that children or unborn children have access to.
4. Gift Tenure System
This is the type of tenure system which happens on the wish of the owner, once he or she wishes to gift out a piece of land to someone voluntarily. Though this could be used as collateral for loans but most times the court can revoke the ownership of the land.
5. Rent Tenure System
This is a popular tenure system in which a tenant needs to pay to use the land for a particular period of time, though this tenure system is for a very short period of time.
There are obligations the tenants have to perform likewise the landlord, this doesn’t give much power to the tenant.
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6. Tenants at Government Will
This is a type of tenure system that farmers benefit from i.e the Federal Government of Nigeria gives lands to farmers or subsidizes them to make them cheaper. This type of land tenure system cannot be used as collateral to acquire a loan from financial institutions.
7. Freehold Tenure System
The freehold tenure system is designed in a way that some money will be paid though always expensive, but there is one thing about this, the land can be used as loan collateral.
