By ABAH SUNDAY, Abuja
Minister of Works Sen. David Umahi has affirmed that the role of surveyors is most critical to national planning and development and as such the noble profession must be jealously guarded against infiltration by quacks.
Umahi made the confession in his address at the opening ceremony of a 3-day 2023 Survey Coordination Conference and Meeting of Advisory Board on Survey Training in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, according to copy of his speech made available to SUMMIT POST by the Press and Public Relations unit of the Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation, OSGoF.
He said, “The effects of surveying and mapping for speedy and proper expansion of any sector of the economy are wholesomely psychedelic, and this makes the role of surveyors most critical to national planning and development. The profession being noble must be jealously guarded particularly against unwholesome practices by quacks.”
The theme for the conference, “Collapsing of Professional Boundaries by Emerging Technology: Challenges Before the Surveyors”, according to him, was quite apt and most timely to ponder upon, especially by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Administration that is fully committed to achieving the transformational “8-points Renewed Hope Agenda”.
He said when one deeply reflects on some of the varieties of surveying ranging from ALTA/NSPS Land Title, Commercial/Residential Boundary, Lot Splits and Boundary Line Adjustments, Platting Services and Lot Staking to Hydrographic and Mean High Water and Topographic Surveys among others, he cannot help, but to appreciate the wide range of coverage of surveying and mapping as the necessary foundation for many fields and professions including civil engineering, construction, urban planning, environmental sciences, infrastructural development and disaster management.
He said as technology continued to evolve overtime, surveying and mapping are becoming more efficient and precise in the provision of real-time, accurate and reliable data for effective decision-making, planning and execution of projects such that no serious government will neglect the utilization of geospatial data if it faithful to attaining useful results in its projects and programs meant to aggregate the socioeconomic conditions that will better the lives of the citizenry.
He requested that OSGoF make available to hid office the outcome of the conference, and also make presentation for possible Federal Executive Council, FEC, resolution towards the mainstreaming of geospatial data especially by MDAs in all projects and programmes of the government, adding that it was important in order to also ensure the promotion of quality and curbing of waste of public funds.
In his welcome address earlier, the Surveyor General of the Federation, Surv. Abuduganiyu Adeyemi Adebomehin, stressed the critical importance of geospatial data which is a product of surveying to socio-economic prosperity, encouraging the Federating units – the 36 states, particularly, Benue, to employ certified surveyors in order to generate reliable geospatial data that will intently provide the state government with a Governance Support System for effective administration of the state.
“Your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, I can guarantee an improved Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, base of the government of Benue State with the use of geospatial data, ditto for all states of the Federation.
“Nigeria is being faced with many challenges which are by no mean surmountable if the right steps are taken to address them. Governance at the national, state and local levels are becoming problematic because of our inability to imbibe the resourcefulness of scientific approaches and geospatial applications especially in taking decisions, planning, execution and implementation of governmental projects and programmes,” he noted.
He charged the professionals to continue to update themselves as the surveying technologies continue to evolve in order to be in charge, adding that scientific approaches and geospatial applications have undoubtedly prompted the advancement of countries of the world considered as developed.
“They have continued to soar in all spheres because of their ample dependence on geospatial technologies. We have a slogan, ‘If you cannot map it, you cannot manage it’. It is not viable for one to embark on projects without first taking cognizance of the fundamental role of geospatial data,” he said.