Bayelsa State Earth Rights Conference 2011 - Land Ownership, Housing Costs and
the Prosperity Paradox

(Challenges and Opportunities Project for Land Value Taxation (LVT) Implementation)
Date: Thursday 3rd March 2011

Time: 9.00 AM - 3.00 PM

Venue: Auditorium - Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Amasoma, Bayelsa State
The purpose of this Conference is to:
- Introduce this project and its aims in relations to current proposed mainstream land reforms agenda on Nigeria’s land use laws.
- Encourage participation in the study and gathering of information on land as a distinct factor of production.
- To make the public understand the dangers inherent in the commodification of land that has led to land speculation.
- Launch a Challenges and Opportunities Project for Land Value Taxation Implementation
Chair: Hon. ThankGod Apere - Bayelsa State Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development.

Special Guest: Mr. Ebiowei Doukpola -Executive Secretary, Capital City Development Authority, Bayelsa State

Guest of Honour: HRM, King Joshua Igbagara, Chairman, Bayelsa State Council of Traditional Rulers (The Ibenanaowei of Tarakiri Kingdom)

Workshop facilitator/Speaker: Gordon Abiama/Earth Rights Institute, USA

Guest Speaker: Prof Reuben Udo, Dean Faculty of Social Sciences, Niger Delta University.

Discussion session follows each speaker’s presentation

TIME DESCRIPTION PRESENTER

9.00 AM Protocol, Introduction, project overview and aims of this conference Georgist Prince John N. O. Ebulu – Georgist Educator and Director, Aba Business School, Aba, Abia State

9.30 AM – 9.45AM Welcome address Hon. ThankGod Apere. Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development, Bayelsa State

9.45 AM - 10.00 AM Keynote Speech Mr. Ebiowei Doukpola, Executive Secretary, Yenagoa Capital City Development Authority (CCDA)

10.00AM – 10.15 AM Goodwill Message Hon. Solomon Apreala – Chairman, Bayelsa State Internal Revenue Board, former Bayelsa State Commissioner for Finance

10.15 AM - 11.00 AM Paper 1– Understanding Nigeria’s Land Use Law.

In the light of current proposed land reforms agenda being advocated in public discourse, Prof. Udo, who is deeply versed to land use matters will bring his wealth of knowledge to give participants clearer understanding of key issues involved. Prof. Reuben Udo - Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island

11.00 AM - 11.15 AM Snacks Break

TIME DESCRIPTION PRESENTER

11.15 AM-12.10 PM Paper 2 – ‘Land Ownership, Housing Costs and the Prosperity Paradox’. The dominant economic paradigm today is called “free-market” system. This system has produced some of the most horrific outcomes which include chronic poverty, unemployment and widened the gap between the rich and the poor. The paper examines the underlying courses and proffers a solution – THE Third Way Economics

Gordon Abiama – Director, Africa Centre for Geoclassical Economics /Nigeria Programmes Coordinator, Earth Rights Institute, USA

12.10 PM – 1.00 PM Land Values, the Bayelsa State experience

Chairman of the Bayelsa State Chapter of Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Mr. Moses Teibowei

1.00 PM – 1.15 PM Power point presentation – Great Thinkers on the Land question Henry George, Karl Max, Adam Smith, Sir Winston Churchill, John Stuart Mill, John Locke, Abraham Lincoln, Tom Paine, Mikhail Gorbachev and other economists

1.00PM - 2.00PM Discussions - Questions and Answers on papers 1 and !! Moderated by Dr. Etekpe

2.00 PM-2.30PM Announcement of proposed LVT research project and introduction of Earth Rights Institute Land Rights Online course.

Gordon Abiama

2.30PM Vote of Thanks and Closing Prayer

Outputs

1. Indicators of information in hand and gaps in knowledge (to guide proposed research on land value taxation project)
2. Geoclassical Economics Desk mandate
3. Priority areas for action and/or focus identified

Participants’ explanatory* note

Wealth distribution modalities adopted by mainstream neoliberal economists all over the world has produced a most unjust society where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Several factors have been adduced for this social anomaly chief of which is the lack of equal access to land and its resources by all. Former British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill described the monopoly of land as the mother of all monopolies.

Nigeria’s land use law has come under severe knocks especially from the business community as well as some leaders of natural resource rich communities who have called for drastic reforms. Another school of thought however sees these agitations as laden with selfish motives that will benefit not the generality of people but the land lords. One of our erudite speakers think there is a gross misunderstanding of our land use laws.

As a fast growing city, prices of land in Yenagoa are bound to rise progressively with landlords and speculators cashing in on the situation. The evils of land speculation on the economic and social development of a city are manifold. The conference will highlight what happens to a people and its environment when land access falls into the hands of speculators.
What landlords and land speculators do is to hoard land by holding onto them for many years without developing them, hoping that someday they can be sold at a very good profit.

However, studies in different cities have shown that by drastically increasing tax on land values of these unused lands, the owners are encouraged to either put them to use or sell them, Land becomes cheaper when speculation is no longer profitable.

Furthermore, land value taxation recovers the value that government spending on services and infrastructure gives to land, distributing it to all citizens equitably. When robustly implemented on all land sites based on fair and current evaluations, land value taxation eliminates incentives for speculation, reduces land prices, keeping land accessible and affordable for those who need it. By replacing harmful, unfair taxes on production, exchange and labor, land value taxation increases wealth production while ensuring a fairer distribution of wealth – both essential in order to dramatically reduce poverty; prevent urban sprawl and destructive conflicts over land.

We believe that the land value taxation approach in public finance holds considerable potential for addressing the varied distortions in land management and use. An analysis of its impact on Yenagoa would be an excellent beginning after this conference.