Lagos — Government will soon begin moves to repeal the Land Use Act of 1978 while a new law to replace it would make the registration of lands compulsory nationwide, Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Chief (Mrs.) Mobolaji Osomo, has said.

She also said foreign experts from Britain were being contacted to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the current land administration system.

Speaking at the weekend with State House correspondents, the minister said a draft bill seeking to amend the Housing and Urban Acts was in the works.

She stated that necessary input on the bill would be harmonised at a stakeholders' summit of the National Assembly on Housing in October.

Mrs. Osomo explained that the review of the Land Use Act was necessitated by its inability to address the problems associated with land administration.

She cited unending disputes and litigations, improper documentation, need to do away with consent as well as making accessibility to land easier for investors as some of the reasons for the proposed amendments.

"The Land Use Act came in to solve a lot of problems because, before 1978, it was very difficult for people to acquire land. You acquire land, you end up with litigations which may go on for a long time. Sometimes by the time it gets to the Supreme Court it is either the plaintiffs or defendants are dead. Even where the court gives a judgement, communities may go for the cutlasses.

"The Act came up to arrest this type of situation but in arresting it, it has not quite really been 100 per cent problem-free because people still come to set aside the Certificates of Occupancy that may have been granted.

We believe that we need some amendment. So, we believe that we should come up with a compulsory land registration. It is done all over the world. In the villages and anywhere you are, you are supposed to know the extent of your boundary. Once documentation is done of all lands, it will bring peace to Nigeria," Mrs. Osomo said.

The minister who also commented on the Supreme Court judgement which restrained the government from interfering with urban planning in the states, stressed that in practical sense, such task was too much for the latter to bear.

She blamed constitutional inadequacy for the matter, saying that such controversy would not have arisen if it has been clearly stated either on the concurrent or residual lists.

Though she noted that all planning approvals for any federal housing estate or building were now being secured from states where the projects were sited, in obedience to the apex court's ruling, Mrs. Osomo, however, said the ownership of land still resided in government.

On the urban regeneration policy, the minister said the initiative came about because most houses in the major cities, which, have become derelict due to old age, needed to be overhauled and re-designed in line with global development.

She advised those willing to build their own houses to form themselves into cooperatives, associations or partner with the government or private sector operators under which they could apply for land.

The minister also said the administration in its quest to provide affordable housing, has a mortgage arrangement whereby all categories of workers could secure up to N5 million which is payable between 20 and 25 years.