LEGAL PRINCIPLE: LAND LAW – Deemed Grant – Customary Right of Occupancy – Under Section 36(2) of Land Use Act, 1978
PRINCIPLE STATEMENT
Any occupier or holder of such land (i.e. land not in an urban area) whether under customary rights or otherwise howsoever, shall if that land was on the commencement of this Act being used for agricultural purposes, continue to be entitled to possession of the land for use for agricultural purposes as if a customary right of occupancy had been granted to the occupier or holder thereof by the appropriate Local Government. This grant, to all intents and purposes is no different from an actual grant under the provisions of Section 6(1)(a) of the Act. The one grant is in all respects as good as the other.
RATIO DECIDENDI (SOURCE)
Per Iguh, JSC, in Kyari v. Alkali & Ors (2001) NLC-2241993(SC) at p. 27; Paras A–C.
"Any occupier or holder of such land (i.e. land not in an urban area) whether under customary rights or otherwise howsoever, shall if that land was on the commencement of this Act being used for agricultural purposes, continue to be entitled to possession of the land for use for agricultural purposes as if a customary right of occupancy had been granted to the occupier or holder thereof by the appropriate Local Government. This grant, to all intents and purposes is no different from an actual grant under the provisions of Section 6(1)(a) of the Act. The one grant is in all respects as good as the other."
EXPLANATION / SCOPE
Section 36(2) of the Land Use Act creates a “deemed grant” of customary right of occupancy for occupiers of non-urban agricultural land at the Act’s commencement. This deemed grant is equivalent to an actual grant under Section 6(1)(a). It confers the same rights and protections. The occupier need not apply for a certificate—the law automatically grants the right. The Local Government cannot later grant the same land to another because the land is already subject to a deemed grant. The deemed grant is as valid and enforceable as an express grant. This protects agricultural occupiers from arbitrary dispossession.