Land administration has remained one of the most critical determinants of the success or failure of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) globally. In Nigeria, the performance of Oil and Gas Special Economic Zones (OGSEZs) was historically constrained by land governance disputes, monopolistic lease arrangements, overlapping institutional mandates, bureaucratic bottlenecks, and weak coordination between federal and state authorities. This study examines the reforms introduced between 2015 and 2024 that transformed land governance within Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Free Zones from a system characterized by spatial restrictions and institutional ambiguity into a more decentralized and expansion-oriented governance framework. Using a mixed-methods research design, the study relied on qualitative interviews, documentary analysis, questionnaires, and policy review to evaluate the impact of reforms implemented by the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA). The study adopted Stakeholder Theory and the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) Framework as analytical foundations for examining the relationship between institutional reforms, stakeholder participation, and land access outcomes. Findings reveal that prior to 2015, land governance within the Oil and Gas Free Zones was dominated by restrictive lease structures and overlapping jurisdictional claims involving federal agencies, State Government and private concessionaires, however, reforms implemented between 2015 and 2024, including the introduction of Developer Licenses, Sub-Zone licensing frameworks, institutional clarifications, and the Oil and Gas Export Free Zone Regulations 2019, significantly expanded investor access to industrial land and improved land governance outcomes. The study revealed that the reforms contributed to an estimated spatial expansion growth of over 92.7% within the study period. The paper argues that sustainable industrial development within Nigeria’s oil and gas sector depends heavily on transparent land governance systems, institutional coordination, and legally secure land administration mechanisms. The study recommends harmonization of land governance laws, statutory clarification of institutional mandates, deployment of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for land administration transparency, and stronger stakeholder participation frameworks for host communities and investors.
Mmahi et al. (Tue,) studied this question.