Fashola, Malami task security agencies on Survey Coordination Act, cyber-smart survey technology
Story from Abah ADAH, Abuja
As Nigeria struggles to surmount the high level of insecurity confronting it from all fronts, Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, and the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, have in their separate speeches stressed the need for the various security agencies in the country to synergise, ensure the implementation and enforcement of the Survey Coordination Act (SCA) and set up a cyber-space Survey interface.
Delivering the keynote address at the occasion of the 2021 Collaboration Meeting of the Office Surveyor-General of the Federation and the Armed Forces and other security agencies on the implementation of the Survey Coordination Act on Wednesday in Abuja, Fashola said the issue of surveying and mapping had become so important giving the prevailing insecurity that has bedevilled the country which was already impeding economic activities.
Highlighting the economic importance of social security, the Works and Housing Minister and Chief Host of the occasion, represented by the Director, Cadastre at OSGOF, Mrs Akerele Omolara, said: “Surveying and Mapping with adequate security is the bedrock of any meaningful development.
“To achieve this, there must be strict adherence to the rules and regulations that govern the surveying and mapping practice in the country.
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“It is evident that surveying and mapping practice in Nigeria and the world, in general, is rapidly changing as the skills required in the past is giving way to technological innovations.”
“It may also interest you to know that new opportunities for the provision of added value services are beginning mount pressure on survey rules and regulations which makes the implementation of the Survey Coordination Act not only important but also necessary.”
On his part, Malami who was the Special Guest of Honour at the occasion said with the dynamics of national security which are the fast-changing world over, nation’s technological supremacy and economic powers are being measured by their “ability to solve virtually every problem online using IT to outwit their contemporaries, not in the physical battlefield this time, but in cyberspace”.
Malami who was represented by Yusuf Abdullahi Abdulkadir stressed the need for security agencies in the country to key into the new opportunities in technology in their quest to overrun kidnappers, bandits, terrorists and other criminal elements.
“The time has therefore come for the collaboration of this office with the security agencies to project and coordinate a cyber-smart survey interface that at a glance would give our security and defence agencies the necessary advantage in locating and displacing the miscreants easily through technological efficiency,” he said.
In his welcome address earlier, the Surveyor-General of the Federation (SGoF), Surv. Abuduganiyu Adebomehin said in view of the strategic role the Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation (OSGoF) plays in all aspects of the Nigerian economy as a political state, the office collaborates with various sectors and stakeholders on diverse platforms for different purposes, one of which is to enable her to understand their geospatial needs and provide as appropriate.
He said the Survey Coordination Act of 1962 is crucial to matters of surveying and mapping in the country which has far-reaching effects on national security, socio-economic activities, and attainment of sustainable development.
“Because of the dynamic nature of the ecosystem and human activities, the implementation of the Survey Coordination Act will be almost impossible without the collaboration of the military, the police, and the para-military organisations.
“OSGoF strongly believes that the effective implementation of the Act would engender orderly ways of engagement and a healthy system for the country,” he said.
In his paper presentation titled, “Reforming and Implementing the Survey Coordination Act of 1962: Issues, Challenges, and the Need for Collaboration”, Dr Joseph Ochogwu, who described the Act as outdated, stressed the need to have the Act reviewed as urgently as possible to capture the dynamics of surveying and mapping in the modern era with the view to fighting the hydra-headed insecurity facing the country and overcoming it.
OSGoF is one of the parastatals under the supervision of the Ministry of Works and Housing.
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