Gazette (gazetted land)

Every state and the Federal Government publish an official gazette. It is where new laws, appointments and formal notices appear. For land, the gazette records:

• government acquisitions of land for public purposes;
• excisions, where acquired land is released back to a community;
• orders declaring areas urban under the Land Use Act;
• some revocations.

When a seller says the land is gazetted, they usually mean it sits within an area released by an excision gazette. The gazette carries a number, a date and a schedule describing the land by village name and boundary coordinates.

What a gazette proves. It proves that the government released that area to the named community. It does not show who in the community now holds a particular plot, and it does not give the buyer a title. After buying gazetted land, the buyer still applies for a C of O or for consent and registers their documents.

Using the gazette in due diligence. Ask for the gazette number and date, get a copy of the gazette, and have your surveyor chart the plot to confirm it falls inside the schedule. Excision gazettes sometimes cover only part of a village.

• Lagos: excision gazettes are common for villages in Lekki, Ibeju-Lekki, Ikorodu and Badagry.
• Ogun and other states: gazettes also record acquisitions and allocations, sometimes disputed, as in recent Ogun land allocations.