Land administration issues in farmer-nomad relations

In a recent two-part serial on “The proposed national grazing reserves commission” (BusinessDay, April 15 and 22, 2015), we highlighted the danger inherent in the bill by which the Federal Government is seeking to create permanent routes and reserves in all states for Fulani pastoralists. Our conclusion was that the issues involved in the escalating land conflicts between nomadic pastoralists and sedentary farmers are technical and should be referred to a committee of experts to study and advise government accordingly.

Since the publication of the article, readers have requested, through numerous phone calls and text messages, that we revisit the subject to spell out some of the technical issues we reserved for the committee of experts.The starting point is to indicate that the violent farmer-nomad conflicts are due mainly to our inability to effectively manage anything. The country is blessed with crude oil and natural gas reserves that are the envy of many countries around the world but we cannot manage it effectively to the benefit of the majority. Fuel queues continually visit us to remind us that we import the fuel we consume locally. The same is true of our land resources. Consider this admonition by one perceptive observer: “Land is the raw material of nearly all wealth. But neither the development nor the administration of any plot can be planned economically or carried out efficiently without a complete and accurate knowledge of its size, its boundaries and the various natural and artificial features within its borders.”

The significance of this observation is unmistakable. After nearly 55 years of flag independence, only about 3 percent of Nigeria’s landmass is documented in terms of land rights. Under the current law (Land Use Act, 1978), most farmers in the country are deemed to have a customary right of occupancy on the land they cultivate. In its proprietary character, a customary right of occupancy is so weak that its holder is in the position of a user of communal land under the customary land tenure system. Successive governments in the country have failed to institute an effective system of land registration that permits control of title and land transactions. The numerous land conflicts that confront us as a nation bear loud testimony to our collective failure to prioritise land reform in our national economic management. President Umar Yar’Adua of blessed memory who named land reform among his seven-point agenda did not live to drive it. Successor administrations have since continued to ignore the necessity for land reform in the country.

The lack of attention to land reform is particularly painful because economists have long identified the attributes of efficient land administration. For example, research on economic analysis of the structure of land rights by Omotunde Johnson of Sierra Leone has identified conditions under which a land tenure system allocates land resources efficiently. Firstly, an efficient system of land administration must define rights on land clearly both with respect to depth and breadth and with respect to duration and height. This requires specifying the rights of third parties with regard to the extraction of minerals or building materials that may exist on the land; the physical boundaries of the land parcel, rights to trees on it and the air space above it. Besides, the duration of the rights on the land parcel must be specified to indicate whether they endure in perpetuity or for only a short period. The gains from this will include the reduced cost of establishing ownership of a given parcel of land.

Secondly, an efficient system of land administration allocates rights on land to specific owners whether they are individuals or groups that are easily identifiable. This aids monitoring of land use.

Thirdly, the rights of individuals or groups under an efficient system of land administration can be easily verified. When based on title registration, it “gives finality and certainty by providing an up-to-date official record of land owner­ship” (Roper, 1977:106), thereby promoting a safe, simple and economic system of land transfer.

Finally, an efficient land administration ensures that rights on land are legal and enjoy certainty of tenure. Legal certainty means that rights are protected against the unlawful acts of others and that the results of legal action are easy to forecast.

As the Primate of Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, has warned, the move to map out cattle routes for nomads in all states of the federation could create problems between the herdsmen and their host communities. In the view of the respected cleric, “The proposed bill in which the government seeks to create permanent routes and reserves in all states for Fulani pastoralists is a recipe for endless crisis.”

The church leader saw the step as one capable of institutionalising conflict in every community and aggravating the already high tension from the scarcity of land, particularly in the South, adding, “Government cannot by law make the Fulani natives of every community in Nigeria.”

An efficient system of land administration can help avert the escalating clashes between nomadic pastoralists and farmers across the country.