A neo-institutional economic critique of the system for allocating urban land and development rights in Nigeria

Governments in sub-Saharan Africa have relied on received colonial land use planning institutions to manage and control the form of their cities. The approach adopted has involved the nationalisation of land and development rights and extensive application of rigid bureaucratic approaches to the allocation of land and development rights. This paper applies principles of neo-institutional economics to critique current land use planning practice in sub-Saharan Africa. Results of an empirical study in Nigeria are used to demonstrate the failure of current land planning system while advocating for competition of institutions in the allocation of land and development rights in the cities of Africa south of the Sahara.