04/04/2020
Understanding Land Documents PART 3
SURVEY PLAN
A Survey plan is a document that measures the boundary of a parcel of land to give
an accurate measurement and description of that land. The people that handle
survey issues are Surveyors and they are regulated by the office of the Surveyor
general in Lagos as it relates to survey issues in Lagos. A survey plan must contain
the following information:
1. The name of the owner of the land surveyed
2. The Address or description of the land surveyed
3. The size of the land surveyed
4. The drawn out portion of the land survey and mapped out on the survey plan
document
5. The beacon numbers
6. The surveyor who drew up the survey plan and the date it was drawn up
7. A stamp showing the land is either free from Government acquisition or not
EXCISION
An Excision means basically taking a part from a whole and that part that has been
excised will be recorded and documented in the official government gazette of that
state. In other words, not having an excision means the land could be seized by the
Government anytime without compensating you even if you bought it “Legitimately”
from the Baale or the Original dwellers on the land.
GAZETTE
A Gazette is an Official record book where all special government details are spelt
out, detailed and recorded
A gazette will show the communities or villages that have been granted excision and the number of acres or hectares of land that the government has given to them. It is within those excised acres or hectares that the traditional family is entitled to sell its lands to the public and not anything outside those hectares of land given or excised
to them.
A Gazette is a very powerful instrument the community owns and can replace a Certificate of Occupancy to grant title to the Villagers. A community owning a
gazette can only sell lands to an individual within those lands that have been excised
to them and the community or family head of that land has the right to sign your
documents for you if you purchase lands within those excised acres or hectares of
land.
If the government based on some reasons best known to them decides to revoke or acquire your land, you will be entitled to compensation as long as it’s within the Excised lands given to that community.ad land to buy
The best way to know whether a land is under acquisition or has an excision that
has been covered by a Gazette is to get a surveyor to chart the site and take it to the surveyor general’s office