Land Tenure Practices Research Articles

Land acquisition and land transfer in zaria villages in Nigeria

This paper reports on some aspects of an investigation into the current land tenure practices in the Zaria area in Northern Nigeria. It describes the methods of land acquisition and transfer and throws light on the complex interaction between communal rights and exclusive individual ownership. Despite a long history of commercial exchange in land, 8,18 it has become obvious from the investigation that a striking feature of the land tenure pattern is the limited extent of change; that is, the predominance of the traditional methods of land acquisition and transfer (inheritance and gift) over land that is purchased, rented or pledged. To understand this seeming resilience of the traditional land tenure practices, or the lack of drastic alteration towards individualisation, the paper goes beyond the observed land customs to critically examine factors such as the overall strategy of agricultural development and the objective production circumstances of the farmer.

Societal formation and the evolution of land tenure system in the Zaria emirate of Northern Nigeria

In most of the Northern States of Nigeria Muslim law has so much ascendancy that it is difficult to separate customary law from Muslim doctrine. This situation confuses our understanding of the basis of the land tenure practices found in the area. The land tenure system shows ambivalent features and seems to have had its origin in the traditional African concepts of communal ownership as well as in Islamic concepts which favour individual ownership. This paper reviews the historical antecedents underlying the land tenure system and throws light on specific changes resulting from the imposition of Muslim judicial administration.

Central problems of economic development of the Transkei

Abstract In this article the argument has been advanced that the economic development of the Transkei is being retarded by a number of important barriers or factors which act and re‐act upon one another in such a way as to prevent development from getting underway on a broad front. The main factor is the lack of inducement to invest, which results from the limited size of the local market on account of the low level of per capita income. The level of per capita income is determined by productivity, which in turn depends largely on the availability of capital goods as a result of past investments. In the case of the Transkei, the circular relation between the above barriers is reinforced by the high rate of population growth, the high dependency burden, outward migration, the leakage of purchasing power, the system of land tenure and traditional attitudes and practices. Provisional reference only, has been made to possible ways and means of removing the barriers and of breaking the circular relation betwee...