The Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS), Lagos State, has expressed displeasure at the high rate of destruction of survey control monuments across the state.

The NIS Chairman, Adeleke Adesina, who spoke during a retreat organised by the institution, urged the public not to see survey markers as ordinary blocks.

A statement on Thursday said Adesina was reacting to a report of threat to another control monument around Topo in the Badagry Local Government Area of the state by residents on an estate.

According to him, most people do not remove the markers out of malice, but out of ignorance of their importance.

Adesina explained that monuments are made with metal rods, buried into the ground, cast in concrete and rise at least a meter above ground level.

“They are often marked with a series of alphabets and numbers and they are not to be defaced, destroyed or removed”, he added.

The chairman said absence of accurate survey monuments could compromise the integrity of survey data and impede development.

He affirmed that under the SURCON Act Cap. 425 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, traditional rulers, local government chairmen and occupiers of properties where the beacons were located were empowered legally to protect them.