Land Law

It is an inalienable fundamental human right of all persons above 21 years old to acquire and own land in any part of Nigeria pursuant to the relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Land Use Act, 1978.

This article has copiously examined the issues relating to trespass to persons and chattels. It has been established that the principal aim of the tort of trespass is to vindicate the Claimant’s right to be free from interference either to his person or her person, property or goods and it is on this basis that the tort of trespass is said to be actionable per se which implies that damage to the claimant is inconsequential in the award of damages for trespass.

The Land Use Act, LFN, 2004, contains a provision that grants the Federal and State Government ownership of lands. These lands are to be overseen and administered by the Ministry responsible for lands and land-related matters, or any other authority appointed by the Governor for this specific purpose, on behalf of the Federal Government.

Now, when there is a land dispute, what the person filing the case wants is for the Court to rule in his favour and declare him the owner of the land in question. For a party to get this desired result, there are two major things he must do: Show the identity of the land that he wants a declaration on, and show proof of ownership