For 47 years, Nigeria has operated under a land system rooted in military rule, which promised fairness but gradually transformed into a web of centralised power, political discretion, and community displacement. Behind every revoked title, every delayed compensation, and every abandoned parcel of land lies a human story: a farmer pushed off ancestral land without relocation support, a family watching their home demolished without adequate compensation, a business trapped in bureaucratic approval processes. These are not isolated incidents; they are the expected results of a structure that grants state governors extensive authority with limited democratic oversight.

In this landmark paper, Chukwulobe, Udenna Michael, Executive Senior Associate, explores the profound legal, social, and economic impacts of the Land Use Act, revealing how a law intended to democratise access has, over nearly five decades, weakened tenure security, fostered political patronage, and left millions vulnerable to arbitrary land decisions.

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