JOURNALS

ABSTRACT

The paper establishes a link between Land Use Act and neo-colonial imperialism. It delves into history to trace the origin of land use Act to the promulgation of land use ordinance during the colonial administration which sought to hedge land ownership and acquisition with government based laws that were quite different from the hitherto pre-colonial communal land administration. Using a historical analytical descriptive approach that revolves around a combination of historical literature where both secondary and primary sources of data were utilized. The study reveals that the colonial land use ordinances markedly transferred what used to be communally owned land to the government, thereby dispossessing the natives of their landed right. The study argues that this act of land usurpation during the colonial era, has not only been seamlessly transferred into the postcolonial era, but has further been enhanced and adopted by the successive post-colonial administrations through legislations, decree and acts of the parliament. The paper therefore concludes that Land use Act being a neo-colonial instrument of exploitation and deprivation has indeed altered the pre-colonial system of land acquisition and ownership among the Nigerian people.