Transfer Of Family Land In Nigeria; An Exploration Of Powers Of Family Members

Family land is land that belongs to a family as a whole under customary law. From time immemorial through the period of agriculture to the period of industrial development, land has remained the most valuable property in the life of man and his development. It is a source of wealth to those who have it and the mother of all properties. In other words, virtually all the basic needs of human existence are land dependent . The emphasis of the concept of customary family land holding is group ownership. Individual ownership is unknown and foreign to the system. Every land held as family land belongs to the family as a whole and no individual can claim sole ownership to the land. The purpose of this work is to critically examine the creation of family property, the rights each individual member of the family holds to the family property, the limitations to these rights, and the transfer of interest in land under the customary tenure system and the Land Use Act. The project concludes by examining the conflict between the Land Use Act and the customary tenure system and appropriate recommendations enunciated.

TITLE PAGE........................................................................................................ i

ATTESTATION ................................................................................................... ii

CERTIFICATION .........................................................................................iii

ABSTRACT..................................................................................................... iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................................... v

DEDICATION.................................................................................................... ix

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.................................................................................................. x

TABLE OF CASES.........................................................................xii

TABLE OF STATUTES................................................................................................... xv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.......................................................................................... xvi

GENERAL INTRODUCTION........................................................................................... 1

1.0.0 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY .................................................................... 1

1.1.0. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM............................................................................ 2

1.2.0. AIMS AND OBJECTIVE.................................................................................... 3

1.3.0. DEFINITION OF TERMS................................................................................... 4

1.5.0. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY......................................................................... 6

1.6.0. LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................................................... 7

1.7.0. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 12

CHAPTER TWO 

CREATION OF FAMILY PROPERTY .......................................................................... 13

2.0.0. INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................. 13

2.1.0. WHAT IS FAMILY PROPERTY ..................................................................... 14

2.2.0. CREATION OF FAMILY PROPERTY............................................................ 17

2.3.0. RIGHTS OF FAMILY MEMBERS IN FAMILY PROPERTY ....................... 20

2.4.0. WHO CAN SUE IN RESPECT OF FAMILY PROPERTY............................. 24

2.5.0. ALLOTMENT AND PARTITION OF FAMILY PROPERTY........................ 26

2.6.0. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 29

TRANSFER OF FAMILY PROPERTY .......................................................................... 31

3.0.0. INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................. 31

3.1.0. POWERS OF INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS IN FAMILY PROPERTY ............. 32

3.1.1. Power of family head ......................................................................................... 32

3.1.2. Power of minor.............................................................................. 34

3.1.3. Power of women ................................................................................................ 37

3.1.4. Limitations to the powers of individual family members.................................. 38

3.2.0 TRANSFER OF FAMILY PROPERTY............................................................ 41

vii

3.2.1 Transfer of family property under customary law ............................................. 41

3.2.2 Transfer of property under Land Use Act .......................................................... 43

3.2.3 Effect of property unlawfully alienated ................................................................... 44

3.3.0. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 46

INTERACTION OF THE LAND USE ACT WITH THE CUSTOMARY LAND TENURE SYSTEM......... 47

4.0.0. INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................. 47

4.1.0. MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF FAMILY LAND UNDER CUSTOMARY LAW................................................. 48

4.1.1. FUNCTIONS OF FAMILY HEAD................................................................... 49

4.1.2. RESPONSIBILITIES OF PRINCIPAL MEMBERS OF FAMILY.................. 52

4.2.0. MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF LAND UNDER LAND USE ACT... 52

4.3.0. MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF LAND IN NIGERIA: THE CONFLICT..................... 58

4.4.0. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 60

CONCLUSION

5.0.0. CONCLUSION........................................................ 62

5.1.0. RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................... 63

BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................. 66

REFERENCES