AN ANALYSIS OF THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN THE NIGERIAN CONSTITUTION AND LAND USE ACT, 1978: TRAVESTY OF NIGERIAN FEDERALISM AND CONSTITUTIONALISM?

The Land Use Act, 1978 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”) vested most lands in each state of the federation in the Governor of each state. To achieve the objectives of the Act, it was promulgated and entrenched in the 1999 Constitution. However, some inconsistencies and contradictions have arisen from the entrenchment of the Act in the Constitution which seems to undermine the federal nature of the Constitution and the supremacy of the Constitution. For instance, the constitution regards the Act as one of the items in the Exclusive Legislative List whereas the provisions of the Act have powers of management of land in urban and rural areas in the Governor and the Local Government respectively. This paper poses the following research question; is the entrenchment of the Act in the Constitution a travesty of Federalism and the Constitution in Nigeria? This paper used the doctrinal method of research to examine the interplay between the Act and the constitution. The objective of this paper was to determine whether the entrenchment of the Act in the Constitution is a travesty of Federalism and Constitutionalism in Nigeria. This paper found that the entrenchment of the Act in the Constitution is an aberration, and absurdity, hence a travesty of the federal nature of the Nigerian State and constitution. It is thus recommended that there is urgent need for the Act to be expunged from the Constitution to ensure sanctity of the principles of federalism and supremacy of the Constitution.