Abuja — The Federal Government has said that it has commenced work to produce a draft National Land Policy which would serve as a driving force for the country's land laws and will assist in streamlining land titling and documentation as an important instrument for Land use and development.

This was contained in a key note address delivered by the Minister of Works, Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Hassan Muhammad Lawal, at the 2ND National Workshop on the National Technical Development Forum (NTDF) on Land Administration held yesterday in Abuja.

According to the Minister, the ministry has been at the forefront of the programme of modernisation and computerisation of land records in the country which saw to the establishment of the Federal Land Information System (FELIS).

"I am quite delighted to note that the programme which saw the establishment of the Federal Land Information System (FELIS) has been quite successful. Service Centres for FELIS have been established in many of our Field Offices in the States preparatory to undertaking a nationwide Federal land records authentication and revalidation exercise.

"We are working to improve land services in our States offices to ensure efficient interface with the beneficiaries of the Federal Government land allocations as well as for exchange of data with individual State Land Departments and State Land Registries to develop the National Land Depository,"he said.

The Minister added that the procedure for obtaining title to land must not be allowed to remain slow and irritatingly inefficient.

In her address the Minister of State in the Ministry, Mrs. Grace Ekpiwhre, said that the National Technical Development Forum on Land Administration has been working to ensure the harmonisation of land operations as well as establishment of appropriate standards and formats for implementing land administration across the nation.

She explained that the workshop is important because it provides an avenue to work out an agreeable and functional system for improved processes in land administration that is in tandem with the Land Reform Agenda of the Yar'adua Government, adding that that informed the choice of the theme of the workshop as "Implementing the Land Reform Agenda of Government."