By ABAH ADAH, Abuja
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Works Muhammad Bello Goronyo has pledged the support of the federal government to the Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation (OSGoF) to boost its performance for national development
in line with the Renewef Hope Agenda of the President Tinubu administration.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by Mohammed Ahmed, the Director, Press and Public Relations in the Ministry of Works.
Making the commitment on Wednesday
while on a Familiarisation Tour of the agency in Abuja, the Minister who acknowledged the importance of the visit, noted that it afforded him the opportunity to have a first-hand knowledge of happenings in the agency, given its critical role in advancing the socio-economic development of the country.
In view of the critical role of geospatial data, which is the core mandate of OSGoF to generate for national planning and development, Goronyo stressed the need for its equipment to be upgraded for optimal performance.
“You cannot achieve your desired goal without having accurate data. This is one Office that has been working for over 100 years. And because of the advancement in technology, a lot of equipment have become obsolete,” he said.
He therefore noted that there was increased need to bring OSGoF up to speed with the modern times because it is key to national development as many MDAs rely on it to perform optimally.
Goronyo commended the office for having been doing greatly all this while despite the challenges of funding, occasioned by meagre resource allocation from the national budget, promising to explore possibilities of assisting the agency to be able to carry out its core mandates, as well as addressing dtaff welfare matters.
He also pledged to look into the issue of provision of additional Active Control Points (COPS) to aid the Office in the performance of its duties.
Earlier, the Surveyor General of the Federation, Surv. Abdulganiyu Adebomehin, thanked the Minister for paying the visit to the office in that it offers them a unique opportunity to bring the him up to speed with their mandates, modest achievements, challenges, as well as prospects.
He informed his guest that OSGoF is one of the oldest agencies of government, recognised by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, noting that the office has a lot to offer to the country, as well as the outside world.
“The duties of the office transcends popular cadastral work, four-corner job. There are now modern equipment used to monitor aircraft take off and landing,” he further buttressed,” he said.
Reflecting on the achievements of the office, he told the Minister that among other things the office provides the government and the general public with relevant map products and alternatives through user requirement analysis, capacity building to establish best practices in geo-spatial data management by collaborating with development partners, making appropriate policies that would be in consonance with the changing roles of surveying and mapping.
Others are creating and maintaining a National Repository of Meta- data for all trigonometrical, cadastral, topographical, hydrographic and geodetic data in the federation, creating and maintaining Survey Units in relevant federal MDAs and supporting them in the areas of mapping and geo- spatial information.
Surv. Adebomehin also noted that the Office was bedevilled with inadequate budgetary allocations and untimely releases, which negatively affect it in the areas of performance, office accommodation, staff strength, field vehicles, Active Control Points (COPS) among others.
Noting that the use of data for national development could not be overstated, the Nigeria’s number one surveyor said, “There’s a need for us to bring all these data together, collaborate as one entity and use it for decision making.”
Afterwards, the Surveyor General conducted his guest round facilities in the office, revealing that the FCDA (Federal Capital Development Authority ) had graciously permitted OSGoF to use the landed property behind it to construct more office space, and that that some of the equipment at the Center for Control and Analysis are new but they are not adequate.