RECONCILING PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS WITH ECOLOGICAL CONSERVATION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This paper examines the tension between private property rights and ecological conservation in Nigeria, where rapid economic development and environmental degradation create competing pressures. Nigeria's rich biodiversity faces threats from deforestation, wetland destruction, oil pollution, and habitat fragmentation, whilst economic growth demands stronger property rights institutions, creating significant challenges for policymakers, conservation practitioners, and property owners. The research employed a mixed-methods approach combining doctrinal methodology of documentary analysis of relevant legislation, review of academic literature, examination of case studies from different ecological regions, and comparative analysis with similar African contexts. It critically analysed Nigeria's pluralistic legal system where statutory, customary, and religious laws create overlapping authorities governing land rights and conservation. The study identified key conflict areas including protected area management, resource extraction on private lands, and urban expansion into ecologically sensitive areas. Case studies from Cross River State, Niger Delta, and Lagos demonstrate both failures and emerging successes. Nigeria's constitutional and legislative frameworks create an imbalance favouring property rights over conservation, with environmental provisions remaining largely non-justiciable. Promising reconciliation pathways emerge through community-based conservation models recognising traditional rights, market-based instruments aligning economic incentives with conservation, and potential constitutional reforms elevating environmental protections. The paper proposed constitutional amendments, robust compensation mechanisms for conservation-affected landholders, community co-management approaches, economic incentive structures, strengthened enforcement mechanisms, and land use reforms explicitly incorporating ecological considerations into property governance frameworks.