Resource Utilization and Management: A Case Study of the Impact of State Land Use Regulation on Development in Nigeria, 1955-1985

By Dennis Arekpita Ogirri

This book is on the study of resource utilization and management, a case study of the impact of state land ownership and land use regulation on development in Nigeria from 1955-1985.

In 1978, the Federal Military Government of Nigeria promulgated a Land Use Decree whose objectives were to introduce a uniform land policy for the whole country, control hoarding and speculating in land, and facilitate the allocation of land for national development. However, critics of the decree argued that the new land policy amounted to nationalization of land in the country, and wondered whether such development strategy was appropriate in the 21st century

In light of the foregoing this author examined the impact of the new land policy on development in Nigeria from 1955-1985, using qualitative and quantitative methods. The beginning and end of the study period coincide with the end of the colonial development plans that started in 1946 and ushered in Nigerias independence in 1960, and the end of the fourth national development plan of 1981-1985 under the military government that overthrew the civilian government in 1966,

The study in this book is significant because of the importance of land as one of the most important factors of production in any society, others being labor, capital, entrepreneurship, and information resources. The implementation problems associated with the new land use law are highlighted. This author believes, however, that it is necessary that further research should be undertaken continually in the future, especially with a view to examining the effectiveness of the implementation experiences since the promulgation of the land use law in 1978.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477131268

Dennis Arekpita Ogirri

none for the cover

Book preview

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PREFACE

BOOK REVIEWS/ENDORSEMENTS

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

APPENDIX I

APPENDIX II

NOTES

REFERENCES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book on "resource utilization and management: a case study of the impact of state land use regulation on development in Nigeria was made possible by a number of people whose assistance deserve acknowledgement.

I want to express my appreciation to Dr. Rodger Yeager who was my academic adviser and dissertation committee chairman at West Virginia University. I also thank other members of the committee, namely, Drs. Robert Duval, Allan Hammock, Gerald Pops, and David Williams, for their cooperation and invaluable comments. I am grateful to Dr. Hammock, who was department chair, for his assistance in obtaining graduate assistantship. I also thank Dr. William Vehse, who was the Associate Vice President for Research and Graduate Development, for his assistance in securing a dissertation grant to support the funding of the study in this book.

My immense gratitude to Ms. LaVerne Adekunle, a versatile marketing specialist and international award winning author, who rendered very helpful administrative advice and participated in the book review. I am also thankful to Dr. Omoh Ojior, Dr. John Ojeifo, Macaiah Tillman, Anna Cohen, and Shunice Hill-Sullivan for their review and endorsement of this book. As authors themselves, I found their comments to be very invaluable in revising the book manuscript.

This list of acknowledgements would not be complete without mentioning my family, especially Osi, Aghie, and Pita, who have always stood by me in my pursuit of academic and other endeavors. I owe them my heartfelt appreciation and debt of gratitude.

To all the foregoing and other people whose names are remembered but not mentioned here, I say thank you.

Dennis Arekpita Ogirri, Ph.D.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Professor Dennis Arekpita Ogirri received a Bachelor of Science (Honors) degree in Political Science from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He had a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA), University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. He earned a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from West Virginia University. He did Postgraduate Studies in Business Administration (Management) at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte under the auspices of Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Interdisciplinary Studies Award Program.

After his Undergraduate Studies, this author taught in a Government Secondary School in Gusau, Sokoto State, Nigeria, during his National Youth Corps Service. He joined the Bendel State (now Edo State) Public Service as an Administrative Officer and later rose to the substantive rank of Undersecretary, and he functioned as a Deputy Permanent Secretary. During the period he was in the Bendel Public Service, he also served as a part-time Instructor and Examiner at the Government Staff Training Center.

Since his completion of graduate studies in the United States, the author has served in various faculty and administrative positions. He is a Certified Interdisciplinary Professor of Business, Public Administration, and Political Science. He also has academic qualification and professional expertise in Urban and Regional Planning. He has been Full-time and Adjunct Professor at various Universities and Colleges in the United States and abroad since 1989. The author was a Full-time Professor at Johnson C. Smith University, North Carolina Central University, and Strayer University respectively. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Queens University of Charlotte, Shaw University, Strayer University, Montreat College, and Limestone College. He is currently an Adjunct Professor of Business and Management at the Keller Graduate School of Management, DeVry University. As a U.S. Fulbright Scholar, Professor Ogirri taught at the University of Benin and at Benson Idahosa University in Benin City, Nigeria, in 2003-2004 academic year. The administrative and other positions held by Professor Ogirri include Program Director, Department Chair, Associate Dean, Member of Board of Trustees, and Member of Board of Directors.

Professor Ogirri is a member of several professional organizations. He has served as a member of Editorial Boards and as a reviewer for some scholarly journals and textbook publishers. His many scholarly publications and presentations at professional conferences are in his interdisciplinary teaching areas. His ongoing research activities include the writing of two books, one on resource utilization and management and the other on diversity management. One of the books is currently in print, while the other is in the final stage of completion. Some of Professor Ogirri’s publications are on such issues as the impact of state land reform policies on agricultural and socio-economic development, the role of multinational corporations in developing economies, international trade and globalization, human resource and diversity management, managing community and corporate social responsibility and social change, marketing well being and elasticity of consumer retention, race and ethnic problems in the Third World, and competing conceptual models for teaching diversity in pluralistic societies.

Professor Ogirri has several national and institutional honors and awards, including U.S. Fulbright Scholar Award, Bank of America Par Excellence Teaching Award, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Interdisciplinary Studies Award, American Political Science Association’s Outstanding Teaching Award, Scholarly Achievement Award, Exemplary Leadership and Dedicated Service Award, Faculty Meritorious Service Awards, and Community Service Awards. He is in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, and in Who’s Who in America.

PREFACE

This book is on resource utilization and management, with particular emphasis on the impact of state land ownership and land use regulation on development in Nigeria from 1955-1985. The year 1955 coincides with the end of the ten-year British Colonial Development and Welfare Program, the country’s first Plan that started in 1946, and the beginning of the Colonial Economic Development Plan of 1955-1960 which ushered in Nigeria’s independence on October 1, 1960.

The First National Development Plan of 1962-68 was formulated by the civilian government of the First Republic of 1960-1965. In 1966, the military overthrew the civilian government in a coup d’etat. The inter-ethnic conflicts that followed the coup eventually led to the declaration of secession from the Federation by the Eastern Region which named itself the Republic of Biafra. These events resulted in a civil war of 1967-1970.

The Second and Third Development Plans were formulated by the military government of 1966-1979. The end of the study period in this book, that is 1985, was the final year of the Fourth National Development Plan of 1981-85 formulated by the civilian government of the Second Republic of October 1979-December 1983. The Second Republic was also overthrown in another military coup of December 31, 1983, followed by another coup on August 27, 1985—the fifth successful military coup since 1966.

The development objectives of the Second, Third, and Fourth National Development Plans were similar, especially in their emphasis on the industrialization, reconstruction, and rehabilitation of the country after the civil war. Furthermore, the study in this book covers the period during which Nigeria’s petroleum oil became the major source of government revenue and foreign exchange earner for the country, especially from 1970-1980, after which there was an oil glut on the world market and a decline in total revenues for development. During this period, the neglect of agricultural development had resulted in the decline of agricultural production and a substantial decrease in the value of agricultural production. Agriculture thus became insignificant as an economic mainstay for domestic subsistence and a major export commodity and foreign exchange earner (Ogirri, 1997: 71).

As previously indicated above, the main purpose of this book is to examine the issues of resource utilization and management, with specific focus on the impact of state land reform policies and programs on Nigeria’s development from 1955-1985. This is important because the use of State regulation of land ownership and land use as a development strategy has always been a controversial one, relative to other development strategies such as industrialization, reconstruction, rehabilitation, export promotion, import substitution, price control, and population control, among others.

It should be emphasized that the strategies and methods for resource allocation, utilization, and management in society usually vary from one country to another, depending on their types of political and economic systems, as well as their social ideologies. The nature of policies and programs on land ownership and land use regulation and societal development are also dictated by the types of political and economic systems. As Griffin and Ebert (2006: 10) have observed, different types of economic systems manage factors of production differently, including human resources (that is, labor), physical resources (such as land), capital (money and equipment), entrepreneurship (skills and risk-taking), and information resources (data and information technology). In some economic systems, ownership of means of production is private, whereas in others all factors of production are owned and controlled by the state or government. Most systems that fall between these two extremes are called mixed economies.

In contemporary Nigeria, the traditional philosophy of communalism has been replaced by a mixed capitalist-socialist economic system, that is, mixed economy. In global terms, state land ownership and regulation of land use as a development strategy is usually subject to ideological controversy, especially between proponents and opponents of capitalist and socialist (or communist) economic/political systems. Thus, the two predominant and frequently discussed economic systems in the world today are capitalism and socialism or communism.

Capitalism is a free market system that encourages and practices private enterprise based on private ownership of means or factors of production, such as land, labor, capital, entrepreneurship, and information systems. Capitalism allows individuals freedom to own property and to engage in fair competition for profit purposes. Capitalist political and economic systems are mostly in Western European countries, such as the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, and in some other countries that have also adopted the free market or laissez-faire systems. On the other hand, countries that have socialist or communist political and economic systems are called planned economies where the state or government controls the means of production. Examples of such countries are China, Cuba, North Korea, and the former Soviet Union.

There has been much controversy over which of the two systems, capitalism or socialism/communism, is better. Each of the systems has advantages and disadvantages. For example, as indicated above, a capitalist system usually allows individuals more freedom to own property and to engage in competitive business activities for profit. However, a capitalist system tends to favor the rich over the poor, and there is usually a wide gap between the upper