Land and property acquisition cannot be fully achieved without talking about the area covered by such property. While most investors understand what a plot of land should be in terms of Length and breath, but the area formula (LXB) only hold where the angle between the property lines is equal to 90 degrees and this formular will cease to function when the angle between the boundary lines is less or more than 90 degrees. A lot of investors that does not have a knowledge of this fact faces the effect of buying land of 60ft by 120ft at an less than the standard plot size.

A plot is simply an arbitrary term used to describe any piece of land. A plot can be used for multiple purposes including building a home or farming. When looking to buy land, the first question you should be asking a developer or an agent is; What is the size of a plot of land? What is that in square metres?

In Nigeria today, Land is measured in Hectares, Acres and Square meters. These measurements are affected by factors, which includes development pattern, human and environmental factors etc.

The standard of measurement in Hectares is the same and constant throughout Nigeria while the measurement is acres and square meters varies depending on the Nigerian state you are acquiring the property. Furthermore, most Real Estate developers equally determines the size of a plot based on in house investment polices they adopt.

According to the policy of the Surveyors Council of Nigeria (SURCON) and in collaboration with the Nigeria Institute of Surveyors (NIS) as backed up by CAP 194 of the Nigeria constitution, a standard plot should measure 669.78 Square Meters.

Land measurement units used in Nigeria
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1. Square meters (SQM): The square metre is a fundamental metric unit of area. A square meter is simply the area of a regular square, which has sides that measure 1 meter in length. It has a symbol m². It is used for measuring areas of anything from rooms to houses to Land.

A plot of land in Southwest Nigeria (Lagos, Ibadan, Ekiti etc.)

= 120ft by 60ft or 18.30m by 36.60m

= 669.780 square meters

A plot of land in Eastern Nigeria (Enugu, Anambra, Imo etc.)

= 100ft by 50ft or 30.50m by 15.25m

= 465.126 square meters.

A plot of land in Southern Nigeria (Delta, Cross River, Rivers etc.)

= 100ft by 100ft or 30.50m by 30.50m

= 930.25 square meters.

OR

= 100ft by 50ft or 30.50m by 15.25m

= 465.126 square meters.

2. Acres: An Acre is a standard unit of measurement used by land sellers and it is almost an equivalent to the size of a standard football field. An acre is a product of any rectangular plot of land giving a total of 4,046sqm. However, each state of the Federation has managed to streamline this measurement to the number of plots that should make up an acre. For instance;

1 Acre in Southwestern Nigeria = 6 plots

If 1 plot = 60ft by 120ft or 18.30m by 36.60m

=669.78sqm

1 acre = 6plots ( 6 X 669.78 sqm)

= 4018.68 sqm

ALSO

For most Real Estate developers If 1 plot = 600 sqm

1 acre = 6plots (6 X 600 sqm)

= 3600sqm

1 Acre in Eastern Nigeria = 8 plots

If 1 plot = 100ft by 50ft or 30.5m by 15.25m

= 465.125sqm

1 acre = 8plots ( 8 X 465.125 sqm)

= 3721.00 sqm

1 Acre in Southern Nigeria = 4 plots

If 1 plot = 100ft by 100ft or 30.50m by 30.50m

=930.25sqm

1 acre = 6plots ( 6 X 669.78 sqm)

= 3721.00 sqm

3. Hectares: A hectare is a metric unit for measuring area, with one hectare equaling 2.471 acres or 10,000 meters. Wandering how big an Hectare is, most sports fields are one hectare in size. It is good to note that in the Nigeria system, due to varrying dimensions of plot sizes, the only one measure that's the same throughout Nigeria is the measurements in Hectares, an hectare in Lagos is equivalent to an hectare in Calabar, Anambra and vice versa.

Conclusion: A knowledge of one or more of the above will serve as a guideline to investors, Realtors and property developers to make right decisions and be informed about the land measurement of parcels across the federation.

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