A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF MANAGEMENT AND RESOLUTION OF LAND OWNERSHIP CRISES IN IBAJI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA SINCE 1996

In Ibaji, since 1996 there has been rapid urbanisation, population growth, and economic shifts have exacerbated land ownership disputes in Kogi State. The land ownership crisis management and resolution in Ibaji Local Government Area is driven by legal pluralism, land grabbing, and competing use rights. Resolution strategies increasingly prioritise decentralised Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) such as community mediation, arbitration, and negotiated settlements over lengthy court litigation to preserve local cohesion, alongside legal reforms to harmonise customary rights with statutory laws or practices. The process is cheaper, quicker, and more culturally aligned with communal dispute resolution than the formal judicial system. The study investigates the efficacy of traditional conflict resolution mechanisms, statutory litigation, and emerging land reforms designed to ensure tenure security and reduce protracted land litigation. This study adopts multi-disciplinary methods for the collection of data, which includes both primary and secondary data. The findings of this study are that the Nigerian Land Use Act often clashes with communal and family ownership paradigms, which creates bureaucratic bottlenecks that require Government consent and inadequate compensation for compulsory acquisition. Resolving land ownership crises in Ibaji Local Government Area requires an integrated approach that harmonizes statutory and customary laws. The study recommends legislative reviews to remove ambiguities and create decentralized land management, alongside the digitization of land registries and the strengthening of local mediation frameworks in Ibaji Local Government Area of Kogi State and the country as a whole.