By ABAH ADAH, Abuja
Surveyors in Nigeria have been urged to go for further studies and leverage the advances in technology so that they could have a successful career and be able to talk as up-to-date professionals and authorities in their chosen field.
The Surveyor General of the Federation (SGOF), Surv. Abuduganiyu Adeyemi Adebomehin, gave the charge in his welcome address at a conference of Zonal Directors and Chief Resident Surveyors organised by the Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation (OSGOF).
The event took place at SURCON (Surveyors Council of Nigeria) chambers in Abuja with the theme: The Future of Work: Adapting to Changes in the Geospatial Ecosystem and the Public Service, according to a statement issued Friday by the head, Information and Public Relations at OSGOF, Mr Henry David.
The Surveyor General said, “We are taking a detour from the way we used to do things before now and one of the salient issues before us is that what we were taught while in school is not what its appealing to now.
“We have equipment now that predetermine our locations, that predetermine our position, and all what we are saying is that with a job which belongs to you or me as a surveyor, how can you impact on humanity, keep all those data, keep all the Information and use them to arrive at a decision based on the needs.
“The breakdown is that we have technological advances as one of the future of our work which we all have to go and equip ourselves with. The second one is that you should live up to expectations when you are representing us in the state.”
Advising further, he said, “Wherever we find ourselves we should always keep to the civil service reform so that we can take the opportunity within the system, in order not to be relegated to the background.”
Earlier the Director (Infrastructure Surveys) at OSGOF, Surv. Onyekwere Nwogu, in his opening remarks said the Surveyor General was doing everything necessary within the budgetary provision to revamp the zonal headquarters and field offices as evident in the completed and the ongoing physical development projects across the nation.
According to him, the Surveyor General is very passionate about capacity building, and several staff members through sponsorship are undergoing post graduate and master’s degree programmes at African Regional Institute for Geospatial Information Science and Techonlogy (Afrigist).
Surv. Onyekwere urge the Zonal Directors and the Chief Resident Surveyors to see the conference as catalyst for a positive transformation, adding ”productivity is not about achieving more but achieving better.”
Surv. Sylvester Okafor, a director in the OSGOF office who was also present at the event, enjoined the Chief Resident Surveyors to be good ambassadors of the Surveyor General, saying “You are representing the SGOF in your state and that is why you have to build yourself because you will also benefit from it after service. “
To increase the knowledge base of the participants, they were enlightened on civil service , professionalism and ICT .
Presentations made at the conference by different resource persons at the event included: (a) Current Reforms in the Federal Civil Service; (b) Maintaining Productivity in remote Locations : Tools and Strategy for professional Growth and Peak Performance; (c) Exploring the Power of Lidar Technology in Surveying.
At the end the participants confessed to the importance of the conference, saying it had adequately prepared them to do their work in a more efficient and sustainable manner, according the statement.