Government acquisition (under acquisition)

Governments acquire land for public purposes and publish the acquisition in the official gazette. Once land is under acquisition, the original holders' rights are overridden, and the state controls what happens to it.

Lagos uses three phrases that buyers meet in adverts and charting reports:

• Committed acquisition: acquired land already set aside for a specific project, such as a road, school or state estate. It is, in practice, not released to private buyers.
• Global acquisition: a broad acquisition of a large area not yet assigned to a project. Parts may later be released by excision or ratification, but only if the government chooses.
• Free from government acquisition: a plot whose coordinates, when charted, fall outside any acquisition or reserved corridor.

Why it matters. If you buy acquired land:

• you may not be able to register a survey, obtain a C of O or get consent;
• you may be refused a building permit;
• your building may be demolished, often with little or no compensation for the land itself.

How to find out. Chart the survey plan at the Surveyor-General's office. The charting report shows whether the plot is free, committed, under global acquisition, or in an excised area with a gazette.

• Lagos: large acquisitions exist along the Lekki–Epe corridor, in Ikorodu and around Badagry. Excision and ratification are the main routes for releasing parts of them.
• Ogun: acquisitions and excisions are common around Sagamu, Abeokuta and the Lagos border.
• Federal acquisitions: federal agencies hold land in several states, and these are not controlled by the state governor.