Statute Review: Lagos State Property Protection Law 2016

Abstract

It is a fact that property transactions in Lagos state have been greatly hindered by the activities of the Omo-Onile and Ajagungbales. The practice of land grabbing entails the use of force, threats or violence to take possession or prevent a purchaser from acquiring legitimate interest and possession of property unless certain conditions are fulfilled. In a bid to curb the unscrupulous activities of the land grabbers in the State, the Lagos State government enacted a law to prohibit forceful entry and illegal occupation of landed properties, as well as violent and fraudulent conducts in relation to landed properties in the State. The law seeks to protect the proprietary rights of land and property owners in Lagos State and also criminalizes actions of forceful and unlawful entry or occupation of premises. The enactment of the law heralded profuse commendations and applause from commentators, Estate Surveyors and Legal practitioners. Against the foregoing background, the paper reviews the provisions of the Lagos State Property Protection Law in the light of existing criminal legislation on the subject, with a view to, or otherwise, justifies its enactment within the corpus of administration of criminal justice system. The paper also interrogates the efficiency and efficacy of the provisions of the law against the normative background knowledge of criminal jurisprudence. The paper found that, save for its provisions on the establishment of a task force unit, the stiff penal provisions, the infusion of restitution remedy and conferment of jurisdiction on Special Offences Court; the provisions of the law are well couched and covered under the existing Criminal law of Lagos State. The paper also found that some of the provisions of the law were inelegantly drafted, confusing and skewed without regards to the impact or influence of other cognate laws on the subject. The paper calls for a review of the provisions of the law and its alignment with existing legislation on the subject.