Mortgage of Land as Security Under the Land Use Act 1978
MORTGAGE OF LAND AS SECURITY UNDER THE LAND USE ACT 1978
BY
DOROTHY E. NELSON** 1. Introduction Land is the very basis of commercial and industrial enterprise in Nigeria. It is the most important factor of production in industry as well as agriculture. Its usefulness and importance cuts across all forms of businesses and professions: Businessmen require land for buildings, factories and warehouses; Professionals in practices such as law, medicine, etc, need land to locate their offices, chambers, clinics, etc. Indeed, every citizen in Nigeria and all over the world needs a piece of land to use for one purpose or the other.
Accordingly, everyone stands in some relation to the land either as occupier, holder, tenant, licensee, pledgee or mortgagee. In this way, land law impinges upon a vast area of social orderings and expectations, exerting a fundamental influence on the life-styles of the people. Every person requires land for his support, preservation and self-actualization within the general ideals of the society. Land is the foundation of shelter, food and employment. Man lives on land during his life and upon his demise, his remains are kept in it permanently. It is as a result of this great value embedded in land that man craves its use as the subject matter of mortgage transactions.
Mortgage transactions and the taking of land as security dates back to ancient history. In early Nigeria, pledges were encouraged rather than outright sales as land was held to belong to the community or family rather than the individual. This went on smoothly as the indigenous people had their indigenous ways of resolving their issues, until the promulgation of the Land Use Act 1978, which overhauled mortgage transactions in a tremendous manner.
2. Application of the Land Use Act to Land Use and Management in Nigeria
The Act sets out in its section 1 to assert the state ownership of land. Hence the power of control and management over
BY
DOROTHY E. NELSON** 1. Introduction Land is the very basis of commercial and industrial enterprise in Nigeria. It is the most important factor of production in industry as well as agriculture. Its usefulness and importance cuts across all forms of businesses and professions: Businessmen require land for buildings, factories and warehouses; Professionals in practices such as law, medicine, etc, need land to locate their offices, chambers, clinics, etc. Indeed, every citizen in Nigeria and all over the world needs a piece of land to use for one purpose or the other.
Accordingly, everyone stands in some relation to the land either as occupier, holder, tenant, licensee, pledgee or mortgagee. In this way, land law impinges upon a vast area of social orderings and expectations, exerting a fundamental influence on the life-styles of the people. Every person requires land for his support, preservation and self-actualization within the general ideals of the society. Land is the foundation of shelter, food and employment. Man lives on land during his life and upon his demise, his remains are kept in it permanently. It is as a result of this great value embedded in land that man craves its use as the subject matter of mortgage transactions.
Mortgage transactions and the taking of land as security dates back to ancient history. In early Nigeria, pledges were encouraged rather than outright sales as land was held to belong to the community or family rather than the individual. This went on smoothly as the indigenous people had their indigenous ways of resolving their issues, until the promulgation of the Land Use Act 1978, which overhauled mortgage transactions in a tremendous manner.
2. Application of the Land Use Act to Land Use and Management in Nigeria
The Act sets out in its section 1 to assert the state ownership of land. Hence the power of control and management over