Property development in Nigeria has the potential to be a very lucrative business but developers need to familiarise themselves with the local way of doing things.

Property developers in Nigeria need to take note of the many peculiar issues and risks involved in the sector. Jaco Maritz asks Rory Roriston, director of real estate

investments, corporate and investment banking at Standard Bank, about some of the lessons he has learned.

Why is property in Nigeria among the most expensive in the world?

This doesn't apply to the whole of Nigeria. It is generally restricted to Lagos and is as a result of the age old theory of supply and demand. This is particularly prevalent in

the Victoria Island, Ikoyi and Lekki areas in Lagos. Apart from Lekki, which is an enormous land reclamation, the islands were previously residential areas. They have now

become sought-after areas for commercial offices, especially Victoria Island. Ikoyi is still mainly residential but commercial development is happening at a rapid pace. I however

don't believe the transformation will be as extensive as Victoria Island and it will be limited to the main arterial roads. Lagos Island is an older mixed-use node but has

deteriorated and become extremely congested.

The lack of large tracts of land on the islands has been a contributor to the high costs. Another contributor is the shortage of high-grade office space demanded by

international operators that have recognised the opportunities that Nigeria present. This is not a short-lived demand where market rentals tumble every time a major

development comes on stream. The rentals are sustainable for the long-term and in fact every major development seems to set a new benchmark.

THE world is getting hotter, with 2011 one of the warmest years on record, and humans are to blame, a report by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said last week.

It warned increasing global average temperatures were expected to amplify floods, droughts and other extreme weather patterns.

“Our science is solid and it proves unequivocally that the world is warming and that this warming is due to human activities,” WMO Deputy Secretary-General Jerry Lengoasa

told reporters in Durban, where almost 200 nations are gathered for U.N. climate talks.

The colonial administration in southern Nigeria recognised the existing indenous system of land management and administration.The colonial way regime, however, made laws

and super-imposed land them on such existing systems (Adalemo 1993). For example, the Treaty of Cession of 1861 was ) the signed by Oba Dosunmu of Lagos; but what Oba

.'rson Dosunmu transferred were sovereign rights only, olute since property rights of individuals or inhabitants eans were not affected by the treaties. Thus, it was only i and

the management of land that was transferred and (lien- not property rights. The Native Lands Acquisition fthe Proclamation of 1st January 1900, provided that with effect

from 1st January, 1900: No person other than a Native shall either. directly or indirectly acquire right in or over land within southern Nigeria from Natives without the written

consent of the High Commissioner... Any such interest or right som- over land acquired without such consent from shall be void. By 1906, the Crown Lands Management land.

Proclamation was introduced. It was designed to , the provide for the management, control and disposition of Crown. Lands in the Protectorate of was Southern Nigeria. It

provided that the High land Commissioner shall have the management of all that Crown Lands in the Protectorate; and that he may for a 'from time to time sell, lease,

exchange or other wise dispose of such lands as he may think fit.'

The Land Use Act of 1978 is made up of eight parts of fifty-one sections. It addresses four important issues arising from the former land tenure systems in Nigeria: the

problem of lack of uniformity in the laws governing land-use and ownership; the issue of uncontrolled speculation in urban land; the question of access to land rights by

Nigerians on equal legal basis; and the issue of fragmentation of rural lands arising from either the application of traditional principles of inheritance and/or population

growth and the consequent pressure on land. It approaches these issues via three related strategies: the vesting of proprietary rights in land in the State; the granting of

usufructuary rights in land to individuals; and the use of an administrative system rather than market forces in the allocation of rights in land(Uchendu 1979:71; Francis

1978:12). In the discussion that follows, the structure of the Act will be followed.