Abstract

The centrality of land and its resources to economic development and social welfare is unquestionable. Land has been used from time immemorial to promote economic growth and human development to the extent that more than half of the world population live and earn their living out of tilling the land as farmers. In Africa, even in countries such as Egypt, Libya and Niger Republic which are more than 90% Land locked countries, still agriculture is the mainstay of economic activities for the majority of the people. This paper review the African Traditional Perspective on Land and its Resources. It was discovered that all resources belongs to the community/nation, rights to use of land were conveyed through oral history and not formally documented, and the commercialization of land by colonial masters and inflation of its price left many Africans with no land to call their own. This review recommends that all resources should continue to belongs to the community/nation but opportunities should be given to individuals and groups that shown interest of owning some of the land/resources in order to encourage investment, innovation, maintenance of properties and economic development, the review also recommend that henceforth the right to use the land should be documented rather than being conveyed through oral history, and the review further discourages total commercialization of land in order not to stripped of Africans their dignity of having free access to land and its resources.