Land Ownership, Appropriation, and Protection in an Urban Campus: The Case of University of Lagos, Nigeria
Taibat Lawanson
Taibat Lawanson and Abisoye Eleshin
University of Lagos (Unilag) was established by an act of the Nigerian Parliament in 1962. This resulted in the ceding of land and buildings by the Federal Government in 1962. The land where the campus currently stands was a vast swamp that included communal land across several villages. Over the last fifty years, the Iwaya – Abule Oja – Akoka axis has urbanised rapidly due to the university campus acting as a catalytic growth pole. As such the land value is quite high, compared to other areas in Lagos.
Through archival research, geo-spatial mapping, and in-depth interviews with university administrators, community leaders and historians, this paper will attempt to establish the extent of Unilag’s land and property holdings over the years, the processes of acquiring and establishing ownership claims on land, as well as how land use and land value are being (re)negotiated. The presentation will also explore university – community relations considering conflicting claims of ownership and violent resistance.
Through this discussion, we learn about the dynamics of the university as a public asset landowner, limits of Nigerian land laws, and the shifting roles of universities from public institutions to economic actors.
Bio:
Taibat Lawanson is Leverhulme Professor of Planning and Heritage at the University of Liverpool. Previously, she was Professor of urban management and governance at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. Taibat Lawanson is an urban planning and development specialist and is well known for her inter-sectoral work which engages policy makers, local communities and civil society actors. Her research focuses on the interface of social complexities, urban poverty and the quest for spatial justice inAfrica. She leads the newly established African Urbanism and Heritage Lab at the Architecture Heritage and Urbanism of West Africa (AHUWA) Research Centre of the University of Liverpool. The Lab project objective is to, through an interdisciplinary lens, investigate the dual threat of rapid globalisation and climate change particularly related to West Africa’s coastal urban built environment, cultural heritage and the socio-economic livelihoods of the most vulnerable. She is a pioneer World Social Science Fellow of the International (Social) Science Council, Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, Global Research Fellow of the Peace Research Institute Oslo and an alumna of the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio
Centre.