TITLE AND MANAGEMENT OF LAND UNDER NATIVE LAW AND CUSTOM OF THE PEOPLE OF THE MIDDLE-BELT OF NIGERI
TITLE AND MANAGEMENT OF LAND UNDER NATIVE LAW AND CUSTOM OF THE PEOPLE OF THE MIDDLE-BELT OF NIGERI
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Date
1985-02
Authors
ABOKI, YUSUF
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Abstract
ABSTRACTS
The term "Middle Belt" was introduced into the literature
on Nigeria by Forde in 1946 when he used the term to describe
the area of the Central zone in Nigeria where the political
Cultural, economic, social and population characteristic are
quite distinct from those of the forest land of the South and
Sudan zones of the North. The region has been specially
defined as the area roughly coinciding with some parts of the
former provinces of Adamawa, Benue, Ilorin, Kabba, Niger and
Plateau,
The whole of the Middle Belt region is an open Savannah.
The main occupation of the inhabitants is farming. This
includes crops such as millet, yams, cassava, rice, guinea-corn, beans, and maize. beni-seed, cotton, ground-nuts, shea-nuts, palm oil, palmkenels
and timbers.
The Middle Belt consists of numerous groups of people or
communities. They include: the Tiv, Igala, Idoma, Bassa, and
Agatu of the Benue State. The Alago, Egbura, Afo, Gwari,
Mijili and Eggon of the Southern part of Plateau State. And
the Nupe Community of the Niger State.
The areas covered by this dissertation include Nasarawa,
Keffi, Akwarga, Lafia and Awe Local Government Areas of
Plateau State; Suleija Local Government Area of Niger State
the whole of Benue State. Others are: the Koton Karfi
District of the Kogi Local Government Area of Kwara State
and lastly, the New Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
In the past, land did not commend an enhanced economic
value in the Middle Belt, inspite of the fact that much importanfce
was attached to it as a primary source of maintenance.
This low economic value of land was attributed to three
factors. Firstly, Land was plentiful. Secondly, the population
of the Middle Belt was sparsed due to exeessive wars
and raids by the Hausas and the Fulani's of the far North.
Thirdly, with the exception of the few traditional transactions
such as loans and pledge there were virtually no
transactions involving land due to the absence of ash economy.
Under these conditions, the tenurial system of the
peoples of the Middle Belt was bound to be a simple, ordinary
and tumid one; evolved principally, to meet their simple
requirements. Because of this, land was owned by villagers,
Communities or by family members in a form of group. Hardly
was land owned by an individual. This led to a conclusion
that under native law and custom, the concept of individual
ownership of land was foreign to native ideas.
Therefore, under the ancient traditional land law, the
bases of ownership of land are two. First,land is owned by
communities. Under this system, the title to the communal
land is vested in the community as a whole. And in most
cases the management of the communal land is the responsibility
of the Village head or chief who in loose mode of speach is
referred to as the owner. He allocates, collects tributes
and all proceeds arising from the management of the communal
land.
Secondly, the family land. Similarly, a family land or
property is the property of every member of the family. It
is owned jointly indivibibly and no part of it is capable
of being owned by an individual member. The management of
it is the responsibility of the family head who in most cases
acts in consultation with the principal members of the family.
However, because of the modern developments, a third
type of ownership of land namely, individual ownership is in
the bud in the Middle Belt, particularly in the urban centres
like Gboko, Makurdi, Lafia Nasarawa, Keffi just to mention a
few.
Earlier, it was mentioned that in the Middle 3elt of
Nigeria, in the past, transaction involving land was unknown.
With the arrival of the modern cash economy transactions
such as sale, gift, loans and pledge are on the increase.
Inshort, alienation of land which was hitherto not possible
can now be made provided that the consent of the Majority of
the principal members has been obtained by the head of the
family.
In the whole, a careful perusal of the customary land
law in the Middle Belt of Nigeria today would show that,
the system evolved in order to meet the simple, ordinary and
local requirements of the peasant farmers. Economic consideration,
therefore, was the least factor taken care of by
the system in the past. Rather, the communal nature of landholding
was seen as an important factor which could sustain
and promote social cohesion in the community or family.
For instance, the communal or the group farming system is a
device which provides both social and individual securities
which could be resorted to in time of need.
However, despite these lofty ideals of the customary
land tenure, it was observed that, the communal nature of
customary landholding is unsuitable in the context of modern
developments. Several reasons could be accounted for this.
Firstly, customary land law does not provide adequate security
of title held under it. This is because under native law
custom, the use of documents to prove title is dispensed
with. In most cases, therefore, title to land is proved by
oral evidence which is usually not coherent.
Secondly, there is the problem of uneasy disposition of
property even at the time when-the need to dispose it is
dire. This is so because of the doctrine of concurrence
which provides that for a valid alienation to take place
under native law and custom, there must be the concurrence
of the family head with the majority of the principal members
of the family. In view of the realities of the present
circumstances it is always not easy to get such required
concurrence.
Thirdly, the community of landholding has been a
major factor for the lack of economic incentive which is
vital for the developing and enhancing the value of properties
in the Middle Belt.
Fourthly customary land law does not provide a general
rule for the distribution of land equitably among the communities.
This, it could be noticed that certain communities or
families have enough tracts of land while others are suffering
from acute shortage of lad. Infact there is no limit
as to the number of accrage or hectre a family could hold at
a time. These and other reasons are the major problems which
customary land law suffers.
Inview of the above mentioned shortcomings it is
suggested that security of title should be guranteed by
compulsory registration of titles, held under native law
and custom.
Secondly, there should be established a committee
known as Family Property Management Committee which should
be responsible for the management of family property. This
will check frauds and minimise heckering and squables which
always threaten the stability and cordial relationships
which normally exist in families.
Thirdly, there should be an effective means of land
distribution whereby vacant lands could be allocated to
families and commmnities who have not enough of land to farm.
One way of doing this is by settlement schemes
Fourthly, individualization of land through the grant of
certificate of Occupancy should be encouraged. Already
in the Urban towns of the Middle Belt region this method
of ownership of land is rapidly gaining recognition.
In the main, it can be concluded that the problem which
has beset title and management of land under native law and
custom in the Middle Belt of Nigeria is that of the tenure
system itself. The system despite its advantages cannot cope
with the demands of the people economically. Therefore,
notwithstanding the availability of land in abundance, land
owners in the Middle Belt still live in abject poverty.
This is because, the system is obsolate, antiquated and
un-incentive. The only hope is that, as the society grows
and becomes more sophisticated the system will eventually
die a natural death. This pessimism is particularly
eminent with the establishment of the present Land Use Act.
Description
Department of public Law
Faculty of Law
Ahmadu Bello University,
Zaria
Keywords
TITLE,, MANAGEMENT,, LAND,, NATIVE,, LAW,, CUSTOM,, PEOPLE,, MIDDLE-BELT,, NIGERIA