Land Liberalisation Beyond Borders Under the AfCFTA: The Thesis, Antithesis, and Synthesis of Sustainable Development Within The African Continent.

The book chapter examined Land as potential and uncommon material asset for investments, food security, agriculture, industrial and residential purposes across the Global North and South. Yet this uncommon material asset is not considered as key and foundational component in both the “General Objectives and Specific Objectives, of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). It will be recalled that the AfCFTA is one of the 15 flagship projects under the Agenda 2063 of the African Union (AU) and it is also supported by the AU’s recognised eight Regional Economic Communities (RECs). A cursory look at the land reform policies among the RECs countries- which are the building blocks to the AfCFTA, reveals that member States in most of the RECs or the RECs as regional bodies do not adopt generally or have harmonised policies on land use and allocation especially as it affects residents from neighbouring countries within the same region. Indeed, customary land tenure system with inherent discriminatory characteristics, hold greater percentage of land space across the RECs in Africa. Perhaps, that might have informed or influenced the opinions of the drafters of the AfCFTA, that is, the Agreement, to not emphatically make a case for land liberalization in the Agreement, except to donate powers to member States’ governing institutions to progressively make policies in aid of the smooth implementation of the objectives under the Agreement. The work adopts doctrinal, descriptive and qualitative research methods. In specifics, the paper dwells on the nature of land policies of the RECs, general and specific objectives under the Agreement, the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation Framework on “Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT), 2012 and the literature on land reform policies in Africa. The work found that different RECs adopt different land reform policies. However, there is no unanimous land policy among the countries in most of the RECs. It is also noted that customary land tenure system dominates land space in most RECs with potential discrimination against marginalized groups such as youths, women and people with disabilities. The State land policy is limited to the urban areas. This therefore, negatively impacts most residents from other countries in the area of land acquisition for investment and food production. The work therefore, recommends among other things, that the RECs and member states should intentionally review their land policies through citizen education, and legislative frameworks, so as to facilitate and drive land liberalization among the member states under the AfCFTA. This is in furtherance of the single market, investments, food security and agricultural objectives under the AfCFTA.

AfCFTA, RECs, AU, Customary Land and Food Security.

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