What is land excision in Ogun State and why is it important?

What is Land Excision in Ogun State and Why Is It Important?

Introduction

Land is a critical asset in Ogun State—one of Nigeria’s fastest‑growing regions with expanding urban centers, agricultural zones, and industrial estates. As population grows, demand for land increases for housing, infrastructure, industry, farming, recreation and more. But in many Nigerian states, including Ogun, there are legal, historical, and administrative complexities around land ownership, land rights, documentation, and government acquisition.

One concept that frequently arises in discourse about land rights is “land excision.” For many residents, potential land buyers, farmers and communities, excision is a word laden with implications. What does it mean legally? How does it work? Why does it matter? And what are the risks of ignoring it?

This article explores land excision in Ogun State in depth: its definition, legal framework, how the process works, its significance (social, economic, legal), the challenges, and how citizens can protect their land rights.

By understanding excision fully, you are better positioned to make informed decisions—whether you’re a community seeking to secure ancestral land, a prospective buyer, a developer, or a concerned resident.

What Is Land Excision?

Definition

• Excision, in the land law context, refers to the process by which a State Government “takes out” or cedes a portion of land from land held by the government (or acquired by government), often to restore rights to the community, family, or indigenous/traditional owners. The excised portion is legally recognized and often gazetted, meaning officially published, to make the excision public and binding.

• It is sometimes described as the government giving back or confirming land rights over certain portions that were lost or acquired for public or government purpose, but may no longer be needed or were over-acquired.

• The excised land may also be part of government-acquired land that was earmarked for public infrastructure but portions are no longer required for those functions.

Legal Basis & Related Concepts

• Land Use Act (1978): This is the primary legislation in Nigeria that vests all land in each state under the control of the state Governor, who holds land in trust for the people. ebonyiface.com+2propertyadvisorynetwork.ng+2

• Under that arrangement, State Governments have power to acquire land compulsorily for public use and to allocate land for various purposes. Excision is one mechanism for returning or allocating portions of land back to private/community ownership. Nigerian property info+3ebonyiface.com+3infogramme.com.ng+3

• Gazette: Once excision is approved, the State Government publishes in its Official Gazette the details of the land, the boundaries, recipients, etc. The Gazette record is powerful legally—it formalizes the excision. ebonyiface.com+2Nigerian property info+2

• Titles & Certificates of Occupancy (C of O): These relate to statutory rights to land, which may or may not be connected with excision. Having an excision does not always equate to having a C of O, but the excision if properly completed and gazetted strengthens land rights. propertyadvisorynetwork.ng+2infogramme.com.ng+2

• Governor’s Consent: In transactions involving land (sale, transfer), the Governor’s consent is often required under the Land Use Act. Excision, when properly completed and gazetted, helps legitimate the status of the land and may facilitate such consent. infogramme.com.ng+1

How Excision Works (Process Overview)

While specific procedural details may vary across states, and between urban vs. rural / community vs. individual cases, generally the process includes:

1. Application: A community, family, or individual applies to the Bureau of Lands and Survey (or equivalent state land authority) for excision, usually giving reasons (ancestral ownership, original ownership before government acquisition, or because part of government‑acquired land is no longer needed for public purpose).

2. Verification: Investigation into claim of ownership, reviewing land registry records, historical occupancy, boundary demarcation, survey plan preparation.

3. Survey and Demarcation: Commissioning a surveyor to map out the portion to be excised; identifying boundaries, plotting coordinates.

4. Approval: The relevant authority (Governor, land ministry) considers the survey results, checks compatibility with planning laws, state development plans, public interests.

5. Gazettement: Once approved, the excision is published in the state’s Gazette. This publicizes who the beneficiaries are, the boundaries, any conditions. Without gazettement, the excision is not fully legal. ebonyiface.com+1

6. Documentation/title issuance: Upon gazette, further documentation may be required (C of O, deed, assignment) to fully effect the ownership rights and to enable transfers, sales, or mortgage.

7. Use & Regulation: After excision, the land is under the control of the beneficiary, subject to local land-use, planning, environmental, and other regulatory constraints.

Excision in Ogun State: Current Status & Examples

To see how this process works in practice, below are examples and current features specific to Ogun State.

Key Laws & Policies

• Ogun State Prohibition of Forcible Occupation of Lands and Landed Properties Law, 2016 (“Anti‑Land Grabbing Law”) which criminalizes illegal and forcible occupation of land, encroachment, fraudulent land sales, etc. This law aims also to protect rightful landowners and to discourage land grabbing. newdawnngr.com+3Land Portal+3ogunstatejudiciary.gov.ng+3

• There have been efforts by the Ogun State House of Assembly to amend the Anti‑Land Grabbing Law to strengthen implementation and close loopholes. PM News Nigeria+2ogunstatejudiciary.gov.ng+2

• Regulations from the Bureau of Lands and Survey govern land allocation, survey, mapping, excision procedures, documentation, etc.

Recent Examples of Excision in Ogun

• In February 2025, Ogun State Government granted excision to nine villages around Hill Crest Estate, behind the Secretariat Complex in Abeokuta. These were portions of land previously acquired by government, now being released back for use by community/villages like Igbore Shomolu, Adigoro, Ijeun Adaranifa, Mologede, Agbon Olubunkun, Ateroko, Asamo, Igbore Ikumapayi and Kemta Sowunmi. thedailycrucible.com.ng+2EDU-BIZNEWS+2

• The excision was done to encourage development, maintain social harmony, allow for continuous growth of the villages, and to formalize land rights for those who inhabit those areas. thedailycrucible.com.ng+1

Challenges in Ogun

• Implementation gaps in law enforcement: Surveyors and practitioners have complained that the anti‐land grabbing law is not well enforced; illegal sales, encroachment, forceful occupation persist. Punch Newspapers+1

• Conflicts and land grabbing: Many land disputes arise from overlapping claims, unclear documentation, and traditional vs formal ownership conflicts. Some communities and families suffer dispossession. AGRIS+1

• Delay in procedures and cost: Getting proper documentation (survey, gazettement, title) can be tedious, expensive, and bureaucratically challenging. This discourages some people from completing processes properly.

• Corruption, collusion & illegal sales: Some traditional rulers, officials, or informally acting persons sometimes exploit loopholes, sell lands illegally, or misrepresent boundaries. These malpractices undermine genuine excision and create insecurity of land tenure. Businessday NG+1

• Lack of awareness: Many land buyers, community members do not understand what excision means, the need for gazettement, difference between excised land vs land under government acquisition, or Governor’s consent. This lack of knowledge leads to risky transactions.

Why Is Land Excision Important in Ogun State?

Understanding and implementing excision properly carries multiple significant benefits—for individuals, communities, the state government, investors, and society. Here are some of the major reasons:

Legal Security & Protection

• Legal recognition of land rights: Excision, once gazetted, provides legal backing and recognition of ownership/rights, reducing risk of dispossession.

• Protection from arbitrary state acquisitions: Land not excised can be reclaimed by state for public purposes, sometimes without adequate compensation. Having an excised land strengthens one’s claim and reduces risks.

• Easier transactions (sale, mortgage, inheritance): Proper documentation (excision, title, etc.) makes sale, transfer, mortgage easier and more credible to banks, courts, and buyers.

Social Justice & Equity

• Restoration of rights: For communities whose land was taken or acquired by government but portions are no longer needed, excision helps restore land to their rightful owners.

• Preventing land grabbing abuses: Excision processes guard against illegal occupation, encroachment, and unauthorized sales by traditional or non‑traditional actors.

• Protecting vulnerable groups: Women, small farmers, widows, and indigent community members often lack resources or legal prowess; excision helps secure their rights when properly navigated.

Economic Development & Investment

• Encourages investment: Secure land rights (via excision & proper documentation) attract investors, developers, because risk is reduced.

• Promotes land use planning: Excision aligns land allocations with state plans, avoids conflict between private land use and public plans (roads, infrastructure, utility corridors).

• Stimulates local development: When trees, farmland, etc., are properly excised, communities can develop their land—housing, infrastructure, agriculture—leading to improved economic activity locally.

• Raising value of land: Excised lands, properly documented and secured, often command higher prices than unregularized lands. Buyers and occupants are willing to pay for security.

Governance, Transparency & Accountability

• Clarity on land ownership & title: With more excisions properly gazetted, title and boundary ambiguities are reduced.

• Reduced litigation and dispute costs: Clear records and legal recognition help reduce disputes taken to court, saving time, money, and reducing corruption.

• Public trust in government: When government applies excision fairly, transparently, people feel their rights are being respected.

• Urban planning & orderly growth: Excision helps integrate traditional land into broader development plans, avoid haphazard development, encroachment on public spaces or corridors.

How Land Excision Affects Different Stakeholders

Here are how various groups are impacted by excision (positively & negatively), and what they should watch out for.

Legal & Practical Considerations

To maximize benefits and reduce risks, it’s crucial to understand certain legal or practical factors in excision.

1. Gazettal Is Vital
   Without being published in the Gazette, an excision has limited legal power. The boundary, the beneficiary, and the area must be publicly declared.

2. Survey Accuracy & Boundary Demarcation
   Precise survey work is needed. Poor or fraudulent surveys can lead to overlapping claims or disputes.

3. Governor’s Consent & Title Documents
   Even with excision, other legal documents (C of O, deeds, etc.) and Governor’s consent are often required for transfers, sales, or mortgages. The will must adhere to the state’s land laws.

4. Checking Ancestral / Customary Rights vs Formal State Records
   Many informal claims rely on customary occupancy or ancestral rights. These are valid in many instances, but must be reconciled with formal state land records, laws, and policies.

5. Lighting Procedural Delays & Bureaucracy
   Multiple offices (surveyors, lands registry, governor’s office, planning, etc.) may be involved. Delays, missing documentation, conflicting guidelines can slow down or block processes.

6. Cost & Affordability
   Fees for survey, documentation, legal fees, etc., can be substantial. Some communities may lack resources. Government policies or subsidies may help.

7. Monitoring & Enforcement
   After excision, ensuring that boundaries are respected, that encroachers are kept off, and that illegal sales are penalized is essential.

Challenges & Problems

No system is perfect. Ogun State (like many states) faces several challenges in its excision framework:

• Weak enforcement and corruption: Even with laws against land grabbing, there is reported non‑compliance, officials or traditional rulers abusing power, multiple claims. Businessday NG+2Sahara Reporters+2

• Lack of public awareness: Many people do not understand the importance of excision, or the difference between excised land vs unexcised, or think that having a deed from a Baale or ancestral claim is “enough” without gazette or C of O.

• Overlap and conflicting claims: Customary ownership, family claims, government acquisition history, and informal transactions often overlap without clear documentation, leading to disputes.

• Delay, bureaucracy, red tape: The process may involve many steps, slow decision making, missing documentation, and sometimes demand for extra payments (official or unofficial).

• Risk of exploitation: Unscrupulous individuals may sell land that is not properly excised or misrepresent status. Buyers often become victims.

• Balancing public interest vs private rights: Government sometimes acquires land for infrastructure or public purposes; excising back portions may conflict with long‐term planning or public requirements, especially in growing urban areas.

• Environmental and social implications: Excision may encourage development in areas previously under communal or ecological conservation; could lead to deforestation, loss of farmland, pressure on infrastructure if not planned.

How to Ensure Proper Excision & Protect Your Land Rights

If you or your community are involved in land matters, here are steps and tips to safeguard rights and ensure that excision is done properly.

1. Conduct due diligence

   • Check with the State Lands Bureau / Bureau of Lands & Survey whether the land is already excised or in acquisition.

   • Ask to see past documentation: old survey plans, ancestral deeds, any existing C of O, or letters of allocation.

   • Verify the land’s status in the public Gazette (if excavated) to confirm legal excision.

2. Engage qualified professionals

   • Use a licensed surveyor to map and demarcate the land.

   • Get legal advice from a lawyer familiar with land law, title transfers, excision process.

3. Ensure transparent process

   • Hold community meetings, ensure consensus among customary landowners/traditional rulers and the beneficiaries.

   • Document everything—application, survey, correspondence, approvals.

4. Follow all legal steps

   • Apply properly for excision with all required documents.

   • After survey, ensure approval from relevant authorities.

   • Make sure the excision is gazetted.

   • Get title documents where applicable (C of O, assignment, etc.).

5. Avoid risky land transactions

   • Do not purchase land just because someone says it is excised—ask to see the Gazette notice.

   • Beware of “excision in process” lands; investigate status.

   • Confirm that seller has right to sell; that there are no encumbrances or conflicting claims.

6. Advocate / engage government

   • If concerned about delays or irregularities, petition the Bureau of Lands, Ombudsman, or appropriate regulatory authority.

   • Participate in public hearings or consultations when laws like the Anti‑Land Grabbing law are being reviewed.

7. Use legal mechanisms when violations occur

   • If someone encroaches on your excised land or occupation happens illegally, you can seek redress under the Anti‑Land Grabbing Law in Ogun State (e.g. 2016). Land Portal+1

   • Consider litigation, involve courts or customary courts or special tribunals where applicable.

Why Some Excision Processes Fail or Fall Short

It is also useful to understand why some excisions do not bring full security or are contested. Some common pitfalls:

• Non‑gazettal: Excisions granted but never gazetted remain weak in law, leaving land open to later claims.

• Poor documentation / missing steps: Not completing all legal steps, or skipping parts (e.g. not getting proper survey, not registering, not getting the title).

• Fraudulent survey plans or boundary description: Even with excision, if boundaries are unclear or disputed, someone else may claim part of the land.

• Political interference / influence: Some excisions may be affected by political pressure or favoritism, leading to disputes.

• Costs borne by community or individual: Sometimes the community applying for excision may not have resources for surveys, legal fees, etc. Without support, excision becomes inaccessible.

• Rapid urbanization & changing land use: As cities expand, many previously rural lands become valuable; planning authorities may acquire or designate land for infrastructure, zoning. Excision that does not consider future planning might lead to conflict between private and public needs.

Comparative Insights: How Other States or Countries Handle Excision

To provide context, here are brief comparisons:

• In Lagos State, excision has been more common and more publicized. Many land buyers are aware of checking the Gazette to confirm that land has been excised. The process has become part of common discourse in real estate. Some states still struggle more with awareness.

• Globally, concepts similar to excision exist under land restitution, land tenure systems, land reform: restoring land rights to indigenous or traditional owners, regularizing land holdings, resolving land tenure insecurity, etc.

These comparisons show that robust legal frameworks + public awareness + strong documentation are key to successful excision systems.

Policy Recommendations & What Should Be Done

For excision to function as a tool of justice, development, and security, certain policy improvements and institutional strengthening are advisable.

1. Streamline the excision application and approval process
   Reduce number of steps, ensure clarity of requirements, ensure responsiveness from land authorities.

2. Reduce cost barriers
   Subsidies or fee waivers for poorer communities, or provision of government assistance for survey or documentation costs.

3. Increase transparency & public participation
   Publish status of excisions, open accessible Gazette archives, involve communities in decisions.

4. Strengthen enforcement
   Ensure anti‑land grabbing laws are enforced; penalize illegal occupancy, stalls, fraudulent land sales; ensure surveyors and land authorities are protected and resourced.

5. Educate the public
   Information campaigns about what excision is, what rights it gives, how to verify status, what documents to insist on.

6. Integrate land planning with excision
   Ensure that excised lands align with urban/rural development plans, environmental regulation and infrastructure planning to avoid future conflicts.

7. Establish dispute resolution mechanisms
   Special tribunals or customary courts, mediation systems to quickly resolve boundary disputes, contestations, land grabbing cases. Ogun State stakeholders have called for such special tribunals. ogha.og.gov.ng

Why This Matters to You (Resident / Land Buyer / Community Member)

• If you are considering buying land in Ogun State, your financial investment, your home, your future could be compromised if you buy land that is not properly excised or documented.

• If you reside or farm in a community with ancestral land, regularizing excision could protect you and your descendants from displacement or conflict.

• Developers, investors: secure land is crucial for accessing finance, avoiding risk, and getting required approvals.

• Government benefit: better land administration, more revenue, less land disputes, more stable social environment.

Conclusion

Land excision in Ogun State is more than a bureaucratic term. It is a legal tool—if used properly—that can restore land rights, promote development, protect communities, and reduce land disputes. But for excision to deliver these benefits, it must be done correctly: application, verification, survey, documentation, gazettement, enforcement, transparency.

Without these, claims to land remain vulnerable—open to illegal occupation, legal uncertainty, and loss. It is only through building systems, enforcing laws, educating people, and ensuring fairness that excision can be a force for good.

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