Press Releases

Technology, Not Wholesale Amendment Needed To Make Land Use Act Work - Fashola

May 1, 2009 - Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Friday cautioned against a wholesale amendment of the Land Use Act for its sake, saying the solution lies in making its administration more efficient by using technology.

Governor Fashola spoke at the Annual Dinner of the Nigerian Bar Association(NBA) Ikeja Branch held at the Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja where he was the Special Guest of Honour. According to the Governor, it has taken 31 years of painstaking industry by judges at different levels to interpret every section of the land Use Act and ensure that Nigerians have a clear regime of land administration, adding that it portends a grave danger for the country to move from certainty to uncertainty.

Governor Fashola explained that the Land Use Act is not new in terms of the land tenure system it prescribes, but was modeled after the old land tenure law of Northern Nigeria which has now been consolidated upon by the country to develop a uniform system of land administration.

He added that because of the increasing population of the country and the resultant need by people in diverse areas of life for land, methods of keeping records and having access to records should be made more efficient to respond to the increasing demand and making transaction more seamless before tearing down the law. This necessity, he said informed the several innovative steps taken by the present administration to improve efficiency in land transaction adding that the State Government has embarked upon the GIS mapping of the state towards ensuring that it is put to use before the end of the year.

Governor Fashola while supporting the call for electoral reforms, reiterated that electoral reforms will not be effective in Nigeria until everyone insists that rules are meant to be binding and that those who violate them must face sanctions.

He identified one fundamental problem with the country as the inability to make rules work, adding that despite the fact that elections are governed by rules Nigeria has never had an election enquiry about why elections have not succeeded.

Said he: “We have always seem contended whenever there is a problem with one election in changing the law, set up new bodies moving from FEDECO to NEC and now to INEC and we move on as if nothing has happened”.

“I think all Attorneys General and members of the legal profession must begin to get creative if possible to initiate private prosecution to begin to purnish those who threaten our collective patrimony because on close reflection the more we embolden those who violate us that every time there is a problem, ‘what are they going to do?. They are just going to change the law. Let us go and do it again”, he added.

Governor Fashola reiterated that if everyone says enough is enough, some will be made to pay, saying: “No great reform can be heralded than making the law work. All those who operate the electoral law would think twice if an attempt is made to compromise them. If it is only for the payment of fees for their defence before a criminal court, it will be a lesson to be learnt and a conduct to be wary of”.

He lamented that that it is very ironic that Nigeria as a country of many Professors and Mathematicians should face a problem of simple counting of ballots which has also become very acrimonious.

While urging lawyers to make Nigerian jurisdiction one that responds to global changes, he revealed that the state is lending support in the area by promoting all forms of mediation, conciliation and Alternative dispute resolution.

He added that: “We are also building the Lagos Arbitration Centre because sadly a lot of the arbitration disputes that are generated in Nigeria are resolved in other jurisdiction and we think that as a first step if we take over the West African Sub region, we will be on our way to make Lagos the Arbitration capital of the continent”.

He asserted that once every citizen knows where his rights begins and where his duties starts, some of the issues about electoral reforms and taxation will become easier to navigate, adding that there is a wide body of rules under which rights are created although they are never at large, they also end where duties begin.

Governor Fashola who reiterated that taxation and representation comes together added that once a citizen pays tax, he has the right to demand to be represented and therefore have a right to ask those who collect the taxes what they are doing with the money.

He said as Nigeria evolved, it had problems of leadership succession and a blighted era of military leadership who were never voted for to be in power and never demanded taxes from the people.

The Governor also said no nation will prosper if everybody becomes his own government, adding that one key essence of democracy is taxation and representation.

“That is why you have graciously elected me and that is why I have the legitimacy to ask you to pay taxes because I will account for your taxes. The simple logic is that if your money is in it, your hearts would be in it”, he added.

Also speaking, the Chairman of the occasion, Hon Justice Oguntade of the Supreme Court said Nigeria is making desired progress as a nation and could do more adding that if every individual decides to do away with corruption and corruptive tendencies, the act will diminish.

Also speaking the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) warned the operators of electoral laws in the country not to set the country ablaze with their unwholesome conducts, adding that when elections are conducted in a free and fair manner, results would be gladly accepted by all parties.

He said Nigerians should be ready to call the bluff of leaders and those in authority who commit wrongs and beat their chests in adulation to the wrongful act, adding that he was in Ghana to observe the last elections and that anyone who witnessed it and what has happened in Nigeria would weep for this country.

The Ikeja branch Chairman, Mr Dave Ajetomobi while speaking commended Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) for the remarkable progress Lagos has made under his administration in all facets of life.

Mr Ajetomobi added that his success is a reflection of the fact that all hope is not lost for this generation of Nigerians, promising that lawyers would always be there to support the Governor in his quest for transforming Lagos State.

The event was attended by the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, RT Hon Adeyemi Ikuforiji, his Deputy, Hon (Mrs) Funmi Tejuosho, members of the State Executive Council and some members of the State House of Assembly.