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The purpose of this paper is to examine issues of compulsory acquisition, evaluating the quantum of compensation paid to natives of communities whose farmlands are acquired and issues that must be dealt with to provide adequate compensation to claimants.

Using an oil well acquisition base in Boboroku, Jesse in Ethiope-West local government area of Delta State as a case study, various compensation claims were examined vis-à-vis market value claims in compulsory acquisition.

It was found that many claimants received N1,000.00 (naira) or less as full compensation claims for their crops while families lucky to own lands received more reasonable payments. It was also found that 40 of the 142 claimants in Boboroku community received only N4,146,120.00 as opposed to N8,802,750.00 they should have received under market values. Similarly, 39 claimants in Okuno should have received a market value of N3,195,920.00 as against N1,370,609.00 that was actually paid by the acquiring authority confirming that the rates applied were grossly inadequate.

It was established that there was no statutory provision for disturbance losses from revocation of land interests. Also, the productivity of economic crops and trees was not considered nor was the computation of claims based on market values. The paper further established that claims should be compensated on the basis of productivity value and life span of interests being acquired and not on arbitrary rates supplied by the acquiring authorities.

The case study methodology used in this paper enabled contribution to the body of studies which hitherto highlighted the issues of compulsory acquisition and quantum of compensation. It, therefore, adds to the problem-solving framework on compulsory purchase matters in Nigeria.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the monetary valuation implications arising from local government tree trimming, by calculating the loss of local government authority’ monetary tree value arising from trimming trees under power lines.

A city council model of estimation of the monetary value of city trees in a sample of three streets in a suburb of the Perth Metropolitan Area in Western Australia is applied to ascertain the loss of monetary value to the local government authority arising from tree trimming.

Using a sample of 274 city trees, the results of the study show that 156 city trees did not get trimmed thus incurring no monetary loss. However, the average loss of monetary value from 118 city trees that were trimmed was AU$2,816 per tree, suggesting a substantial loss of value to the council.

The use of monetary tree valuation should be treated with caution as there is a focus on monetary calculations rather than non-monetary evaluations of trees. Further, the analysis does not take into account increases in value of city trees resulting from their growth.

In trimming trees, monetary value and canopy cover of trees may be reduced. In terms of property management, it may be helpful for the city council to take into account loss of city tree value from tree trimming when considering a cost-benefit analysis of the above ground/underground trade-off of power line installation.

With increasing populations and demand on services, local government authorities may use monetary valuation techniques of trees to provide an accountability to ratepayers.

The results highlight the value loss of trimming a tree. The study’s originality rests in providing local government authority a valuation.