Abstract
Compulsory land purchase is a tool for the control of land uses as well as land acquisition for developmental projects by the public authorities (governments). The right of government to compulsorily acquire land for its physical project is domicile in relevant laws of different countries and the laws usually provide for compensation often in money terms to the land/property owners whose land were confiscated. This study focuses on the examination of the compensation process of some countries across the continent in a search for a global standard for uniformity. The paper adopted a content analysis of the provisions of compulsory land purchase laws of selected countries and literature review of some papers on compensation for compulsory land acquisition from different countries. It was found that there is no definition of adequate compensation in any of the public land acquisition law. Though, nomenclatures like Just, Fair, Equity and Equivalence appears in most statutes, the lack of globally acceptable definition of adequate compensation has resulted in the adoption of different basis for market value by valuers/appraisers for compensation. Some laws, like Nigeria Land Use Act of 1978, stipulate the methodology and identify what improvement qualifies for compensation. The study further revealed that Nigeria authorities always rely on government valuers’ estimate of compensation amount. The study recommend for a global standardised definition of adequate compensation and methodology for assessment of compensation similar to international financial reporting standard (IFRS) and international valuation standard (RICS Red Book) for other valuations. Such standard will be expected to be incorporated in the statutes on land purchase and compensation to create a global uniformity and sustainable valuation of compensation for land acquisition.
Highlights
Compensation for compulsorily land acquisition has continued to attract debates globally in the area of the adequacy of claim payment whether or not it is in the spirit of the definition of compensation
Compensation is not expressly defined in most land acquisition laws; neither does its basis, but left in the hands of operators to assume what it means. This has resulted in the admission of the court definition of compensation with the global understanding that, the displaced property owners are put in same position they were immediately before the acquisition of their right in land
The study found that the concept of compensation for acquired land rights is same as understandable across the globe, but the actualisation of adequate compensation with global uniformity seems unachievable
Summary
Compensation for compulsorily land acquisition has continued to attract debates globally in the area of the adequacy of claim payment whether or not it is in the spirit of the definition of compensation. Public land acquisition is an inherent power of government to acquire land rights compulsorily for a beneficial purpose to the entire society This power is possessed by the governments of every country though under different laws or statutes. Land acquisition operates under the concept of eminent domain, which bestows on the state power to acquire private property even without the owner’s consent This power is vested with the federal and state governments, and can be exercised to acquire any land for any bona fide public purpose with just compensation paid to the landowner (Alias, 2012). Resettlement is another way of making compensation for acquired land especially with agricultural land. The methodology of the study follows with analysis and findings and conclusion in the last section
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
