Job title:
Undergraduate Student, Conservation
Department:
Conservation and Resource Studies/Global Poverty and Practice
Research interests:
Fellowship: Geist and Rosberg Undergraduate Research Grants
Fellowship Year(s): 2021
Project/Theme Title: Land Grabs and Legal Empowerment in Nigeria: How Are Land Markets Evolving in Peri- Urban Regions Near the Lagos Metropolitan Area?
Language: Yoruba
Abstracts: The market in land plots surrounding the Lagos Metropolitan Area in Southwest Nigeria is rapidly evolving. Private investors and foreign corporations have targeted developing countries, like Nigeria, acquiring large pieces of land in a process known as “land grabbing,” which is extremely detrimental to indigenous people’s ability to access their ancestral lands. I plan to continue the research conducted under Prof. MC Ferme on the “Legal Empowerment” movement’s efforts to support indigenous land rights. I will investigate land grabbing, ancestral land ownership, and the developing process of land registration in the peri-urban areas near Lagos. To do this, I will utilize historical archives and online databases, and if granted access, official cadastral records. I will also consult texts from regional universities. I plan to synthesize these sources to identify trends in land usage, further understand legal empowerment in Nigeria, and contribute to the currently limited scholarly understanding of land markets in Southwest Nigeria.