The short answer: excision is the government giving land back to a family or community. The gazette is the government book that records it.
Together they tell you the land is no longer under government acquisition — so it can be safely sold and a proper title can be built on it.
But here is what most sellers will not tell you: excision proves the land is free. It does not prove the land is yours. Those are two different things, and confusing them is how buyers lose money.
Why the government owns your land in the first place
Before 1978, families and communities in Lagos owned their land outright. The changed that overnight. All land became vested in the Governor.
Lagos State then formally acquired huge stretches of land for future roads, schools, drainage and development. Families kept farming and living on it — but on paper it belonged to the government.
Excision is the fix. The government carves out a portion and hands it back.
What excision is
- A formal act by the Lagos State Government releasing a mapped parcel of land from government acquisition, back to a named village, family or community.
- Applied for by the community — not by you, and not by the estate developer.
- Reviewed by the , which recommends approval or refusal to the Governor.
- Once approved, it is published in the Lagos State Official Gazette and in at least one widely-read newspaper.
What the gazette is
The gazette is the official government publication that records the excision. It is your evidence. A genuine Lagos excision gazette shows:
- The heading Lagos State of Nigeria Official Gazette, with a gazette number, volume, page, date and place of issue
- The name of the benefiting village or community
- The size of the land released, in acres or hectares
- marking exactly where the released land starts and ends
The mistake that costs buyers everything
An excision is a boundary, not a title.
The gazette says: this shaded area now belongs to the Oloto family. It does not say your plot inside that area belongs to you.
Two ways buyers get hurt. First, the gazette is real but your plot sits outside the released boundary — sellers routinely market land next to an excision as if it were inside it. Second, your plot is genuinely inside, but you never got a registered from the right family representatives, so you have no ownership document of your own.
Excision tells you who is allowed to sell. Your own paperwork is what makes you the owner.
The four land statuses in Lagos
Every plot falls into one of these. Charting is what tells you which.
| Status | What it means | Safe to buy? |
|---|---|---|
| Free from acquisition | Government has no claim at all | Yes |
| Excised and gazetted | Released back to a community, recorded in the gazette | Yes, if your plot is inside the boundary |
| Government holds it, but has no plan for it | Only after | |
| Reserved for roads, drainage, schools, canals | No. Walk away. |
Committed land cannot be rescued. No lawyer, no connection, no amount of money changes it. Buildings on committed land get demolished, and under sections 28 and 29 of the Land Use Act any compensation covers your only, not the value of the land you paid for.
How to confirm the land is actually free
Four steps, in this order. Do not skip step three.
- Ask for the gazette details. Number, volume, page and date — not a photo of a cover page. Then get a .
- Get an independent survey. Hire your own to visit the site and capture GPS coordinates. Not the seller's surveyor.
- Chart the land. means lodging that survey plan at the Office of the Surveyor-General at Alausa. What comes back is a stating the plot's true status. This is the only step that proves your exact coordinates are inside the excision.
- Run a title search at the Lands Bureau, Alausa, to confirm who holds the land and whether any dispute or mortgage sits on it.
Budget roughly ₦20,000 to ₦100,000 for charting depending on plot size, plus your surveyor's fee. Expect one to three weeks. Fees are revised periodically — confirm current rates at Alausa.
Red flags
| What you hear | What it means |
|---|---|
| "Excision is in process" | No legal status at all. The land is still government-acquired today. Applications can run for years and fail. |
| "We have a file number" | A file number proves an application was submitted. It proves nothing about approval. |
| "The whole area is gazetted" | Areas are not gazetted. Specific mapped parcels are. Ask where your plot sits. |
| "You don't need charting, we have the gazette" | The gazette without charting cannot tell you whether your plot is inside it. |
| Seller resists you using your own surveyor | Stop the transaction. |
After excision: getting your own title
Excised, gazetted land is a legitimate foundation, not a finished title. From there you either apply for a Certificate of Occupancy on the plot, or — if a C of O already exists — obtain Governor's Consent to move it into your name. The gazette is what makes either of those possible.
Bottom line
Excision and gazette answer one question: is this land free from government acquisition? That is a vital question, and land without a clean answer is not worth buying at any price. But it is not the same question as is this land mine? Confirm the first with charting. Then secure the second with a registered deed and a proper title in your name.
Sources
- Land Use Act — sections 28 to 33, revocation and compensation
- Lagos State Lands Bureau — excision processing workflow
- Lagos State Lands Bureau — land reforms and the Directorate of Land Regularisation
- Lagos State Office of the Surveyor-General — mandate and charting function
- Land excision in Lagos — step-by-step application process
- Omonile Lawyer — what a genuine excision gazette must contain
- Chaman Law Firm — excision and gazette are boundary recognition, not proprietary title
- Tribune Online — charting and title verification for Lagos buyers
This article explains general legal requirements in Lagos State. It is not legal advice. Government fees, procedures and processing times are revised from time to time — confirm current details with the Lands Bureau, the Office of the Surveyor-General, or your solicitor before you transact.
