President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has reiterated his administration’s commitment to land reform, even viewing it as key to poverty alleviation in the country, noting that it is part of the Seven-Point Agenda of his administration.

The President stated this while receiving an interim report from the Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reform, describing land reform as “an exercise of great importance, which is going to open new economic opportunities to all Nigerians.”

Yar’Adua commended the committee for its commitment to the assignment and expressed delight that the report came just in time for the proposed Land Reform Commission Bill, which is already before the National Assembly to be accommodated in the 2010 Appropriation Bill, which in turn is to be presented to the Legislature on Thursday.

Chairman of the Committee, Prof. Akin Mabogunje, said that the committee decided to present an interim report after seven months of work since its inauguration, to keep the President abreast of its work.

According to him, the committee had consulted critical stakeholders, such as state governors and members of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), while drawing attention to the need to develop domestic manpower capacity to fully implement the land reforms.

The committee is charged with the responsibility of providing technical assistance to state and local governments to undertake land cadastre nationwide. It is also to determine individuals’ possessory rights using best practices and most appropriate technology to determine the process of identification of location and registration of title holdings; to ensure that land cadastral boundaries and title holdings are demarcated in such a way that a community, hamlet, village and town will be recognisable.

It is to make recommendations for the establishment of a National Depository for land title holding and records in all states of the federation and the FCT. It is also to encourage and assist states and local governments to establish an arbitration mechanism for land ownership and conflict resolution as well as make recommendations for the establishment of a mechanism for land valuation and rural areas in all parts of the country.

The reform is expected to overhaul the over three_decade_old Land Use Act, which asserts that land belongs to the government.