4.6 Minerals, Planning and Boundary Legislation

4.6 Minerals, Planning and Boundary Legislation

Survey law does not stop with the SURCON Act, the Survey Co-ordination Act and the Land Use Act. Paper VI is entitled Survey Laws and Professional Practice, and the surrounding statutes matter because a surveyor is instructed under them.

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1. Mineral title: the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2007

Mineral title in Nigeria is federal and separate from land title. The Act vests the entire property in and control of all mineral resources in, under or upon any land in Nigeria, its contiguous continental shelf and all rivers, streams and water courses, in the Federal Government, to be held in trust for the people. Land held under the Land Use Act therefore carries no right to the minerals beneath it.

The consequences for practice:

• Mineral titles are administered separately from land titles, through a dedicated Mining Cadastre Office operating a cadastral register of mineral titles. A parcel may simultaneously be the subject of a right of occupancy under State land administration and a mineral title under federal administration.
• Mineral title classes include reconnaissance, exploration, small-scale mining, mining leases and quarry leases; the abbreviations that appear on survey beacons - E.P.L. (exclusive prospecting licence), M.L. (mining lease) and M.R. (mining right) - descend from the older Minerals Act nomenclature preserved in the Survey Regulations.
• Revocation of a right of occupancy for mining purposes is expressly an overriding public interest ground under section 28 of the Land Use Act - which is how the two systems interlock.
• Surface rights and compensation for the holder of the land remain live issues, since a mineral title holder must still deal with the surface occupier.

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2. Demarcating mining areas: Survey Regulations 12 and 24

Mining boundaries are demarcated differently from ordinary property boundaries, and the Regulations spell out both the marks and the surveyor's powers.

The mark (regulation 12)

For areas the subject of applications under the Minerals Act, the surveyed boundaries shall be demarcated by mushroom-shaped concrete pillars:

• the underground portion undercut, at least six inches in diameter at the base, sunk to a depth of eight inches;
• the upper portion of ten inches diameter, projecting six inches above ground;
• the upper surface smooth, with a hole about one quarter of an inch in diameter at the centre; and
• the letters E.P.L., M.L. or M.R. with the allotted number marked on top, in characters and figures not less than one inch in height, on the side adjacent to the land in question, with direction arrows drawn to indicate the course of the boundary.

The direction arrows are the distinctive feature. On a mining boundary, which may be sparsely marked over rough country, the pillar itself has to tell the reader which way the boundary runs.

The surveyor's powers (regulation 24)

For areas the subject of applications under the Minerals Act:

• (a) the surveyed boundaries shall conform as closely as possible to the positions indicated by the applicant's beacons;
• (b) the surveyor's ruling as to the positions of the beacons shall be final;
• (c) where the area beaconed is found on survey to exceed the statutory limit by not more than twenty per cent, the surveyor has entire discretion to alter the position of the beacons so as to reduce the area to conform to the limit;
• (d) where the area applied for cannot be identified on the ground by the plan supplied and the applicant's beacons, or where the beaconed area exceeds the area applied for by twenty per cent or more, the surveyor shall report to the Surveyor-General; and
• (e) where, on an exclusive prospecting licence granted on a survey made by the applicant or his agent, the beaconed area is at variance with the plan furnished, the Surveyor-General may require the area to be surveyed by an officer of the Survey Division, and all charges shall be borne by the holder of the licence.

Paragraph (b) is unusual and worth noting: it is one of the few places in the Regulations where a surveyor's determination is made expressly final. Paragraph (c) then gives a real discretion, bounded by a bright-line twenty per cent threshold above which the matter must go to the Surveyor-General instead.

Regulation 31(i) completes the picture with the prescribed scales: 1:25,000 for exclusive prospecting licences and 1:5,000 for mining leases and rights.

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3. Physical planning: the Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning Act 1992

The 1992 Act established the framework for physical planning in Nigeria at federal, State and local levels, providing for development plans and for development control - the requirement of a development permit before development is carried out.

Why it matters to a surveyor:

• Layout surveys are executed within an approved planning scheme. Regulation 56 of the Survey Regulations deals specifically with layout surveys, and regulation 10(b) prescribes the cemetery-type pillar for intermediate corners in layouts.
• Road widths and setbacks are fixed by planning instruments and by-laws. Regulation 21(2) expressly requires that where a road forms a boundary, beacons at turning points shall be placed to conform with existing regulations and by-laws defining the width of roads - a direct cross-reference from survey practice to planning law.
• Building lines appear on the plan under regulation 31(e)(iv), in firm blue lines marked "Building Line".
• Planning approval and land title are distinct. A holder with a valid right of occupancy may still lack a development permit, and a surveyor should not conflate the two when advising.

Note that physical planning is administered under State planning laws as well as the federal Act, and the applicable instrument varies by State.

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4. Administrative boundaries: the National Boundary Commission

Boundary work in Nigeria divides into two very different activities.

The distinction matters professionally. A registered surveyor instructed on a parcel that appears to straddle a State boundary is not thereby instructed to determine the State boundary; the proper course is to survey and show the parcel, note the apparent conflict, and report - regulation 28 requiring a full report to the Surveyor-General where the surveyor discovers a disagreement in data.

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5. Other statutes that recur

• Registration of Titles Law / Land Instruments Registration Law (State) - the registries in which instruments and, in registered-title States, titles themselves are recorded. See section 4.5.
• Sheriffs and Civil Process Law (State) - referenced directly in section 21 of the Land Use Act, governing sales of property by or under the order of a court.
• Evidence Act - governs admissibility generally, alongside the specific bar in section 3 of the Survey Law.
• Petroleum legislation - relevant to pipeline corridors and to the section 28 revocation ground for oil pipelines.
• Penal Code / Criminal Code - section 13 of the Survey Law refers to convictions under section 335 of the Penal Code when providing for an informer's reward, alongside convictions under sections 9 and 12 of the Survey Law itself.

A Paper VI answer that places the SURCON Act inside this network, rather than treating it as the whole of survey law, reads as the answer of someone who has practised.