Prior to the enactment and commencement of the 1978 Land Use Act, all lands in Nigeria were held under native law and custom. In other words, lands were under the control of traditional land holding families or indigenous settlers who wielded the power to grant lands to individuals under a tenancy agreement.

The establishment of the Lagos Executive Development Board in the 50’s paved way for individuals to purchase land directly from the board rather than obtaining land from the traditional land holding families. In response to the sale of land by Lagos Executive Development Board, the traditional land holding families proceeded to sell part of their lands directly to individuals to compete with sale of land by the Lagos Executive Development Board, while keeping the other parts for family use. The sale of land by both the traditional families and the Lagos Executive Development Board led to land speculation. The negative resultant effect of land speculation and other contributory factors led to the promulgation of the Land Use Act of 1978, with the implication that ownership of all lands in every state of the federation was vested in the state governors and which ultimately meant individuals and corporate bodies could directly obtain land from the governor and certificate of occupancy issued to them as evidence of ownership.

The powers derived from the Land Use Act enabled a governor to acquire land compulsorily and to take control over all urban land and areas designated as urban area by the governor. The areas designated as urban is published in an official government record book known as the Gazette. Any area designated as urban falls under government acquired land, while the areas not acquired or designated as urban may be released back to the traditional families it was acquired from through a process called excision. A portion of land is said to be excised if such has been legally released through a government gazette to the indigenous settlers. Excision simply means free from government acquisition.
A gazette therefore shows the communities or villages that have been granted excision and the number of acres or hectares of land that the government has released to them. Traditional families are entitled to sell only lands released or excised to them as specified in the gazette. Any sale of land outside those released or excised by the governor is an illegal sale and buyers must beware not to fall prey to such land sale transaction.To ascertain whether a land is under acquisition or has an excision duly covered by a gazette, a prospective buyer’s best approach is to get a surveyor to chart the land and take it to the surveyor general’s office to conduct land information in order to verify if it is covered by the gazette, so that in the event the government decides to revoke or acquire a land duly covered by a gazette, the buyer of a land within a gazette will be entitled to compensation.

It is imperative not to assume that a property falls within a gazette but to consult a competent lawyer who is conversant with the practices and procedures of land matters before making payment to land owners with gazette as proof of ownership.