When the government wants to provide infrastructure and basic amenities such as roads, bridges, public buildings etc. for the people, they usually require land which will be used for those purposes.
These lands are most times in the possession of private individuals.
The Land Use Act of 1978 vested the ownership of all lands in the government while the land is given to people on long renewable lease. This gives the government the power to take land from whomever it wants and whenever it wants since it belongs to it once they have public interest to protect.
When the government compulsorily acquires your land, however, it will not leave you empty handed. It will compensate you for anything that was put on the land such as buildings, economic trees and crops.
The estate surveyor and valuer is very important in compulsory land acquisition. He is the professional that will place value on what you have on the land for the government to pay you. He also acts as an attorney to the claimant to protect their interest so as to get the right value for their destroyed property.
Without compulsory acquisition, there cannot be development in an environment because land must be required. You cannot build roads, public buildings and so on in the sky.
Compulsory acquisition, also known as involuntary resettlement, notwithstanding the good intention of government, could also result in negative consequences where compensation are not paid promptly to beneficial claimants, the Act has made provision for this by way of interest on delayed payment which is hardly applied.
It is very important to note that government does not pay compensation on land but only on the development or improvement that has been done on the land. Nigerians should therefore know that our laws recognize estate surveyors and valuers, be they in public or private service, as the authorised professionals that can ascribe values on all unexhausted improvements on land for compensation purposes.
Esv. Isiki Bamekpar Ola Bennett, wrote from Lagos
