Land Development and Planning Laws in Nigeria: The Historical Account

This paper is purely on the historical account of land and planning laws in Nigeria. As such, the method of investigation is essentially a documentary and analysis of archival records. Based on this, the paper examines the problems of land control and planning laws from the Colonia era to the contemporary days. The development of policies under the four different national development programs in Nigeria was analyzed. The enactment of the local government reform of 1976, the promulgation of the land use decree by the military juntas, the flaws in the land use decree as they affect physical planning were highlighted, This paper also brought to light the popular town planners registration council enabling law which identifies the duties of the council and the setting of standards by the body for planning schools and the control of the activities of registered town planners. A more detailed illustration of the Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning Laws were elaborated. The expositions from these laws reveal that: (i) Nigeria has witnessed the enactment of different land and planning laws, (ii) that human demand in terms of land use and the urge by developers to use their lands is noticeable, (iii) that the issue of development control is a prominent area in land and planning laws in Nigeria. The paper therefore recommends that since land and planning laws have come to stay, then the type of laws that will respect the culture and norms of the people should always involve active public participation since people are the main agents of changes in the society. Keywords: Planning, development, law, authority, control