Country Report on Nigeria: Bottom-up Accountability Initiatives to Claim Tenure Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa

Communities’ lands and forests are unique assets of all indigenous people because they depend on them for food, shelter and medicines and other services provided by nature. Due to ignorance, oppression and an unclear land tenure system in Nigeria, many communities have lost rights to their lands at the hands of multinational corporations, as well as local and national elites who acquire such lands through questionable and non-transparent methods. Companies exploit the environment, displacing smallholder farmers and polluting and degrading local ecosystems, water, and biodiversity.

This study seeks to explore the system of land tenure in place in Nigeria, and its relationship to these threats. What are the drivers of land grabbing or “large scale land acquisitions” in Nigeria? What are the differentiated impacts of land grabbing within communities? And what strategies of engagement and resistance are being used to support land tenure? The study deploys case studies to conduct community mapping of four selected communities (Betem, Akpet, Idoma, and Akamkpa), and uses participatory action research to demand increased accountability in land deals and governance processes.