The President, Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS), Dr Kayode Oluwamotemi, has advised the Federal Government to embark on a proper mapping of the country, saying that such would help the military and police to tackle insecurity and nip clashes and crimes in the bud.
Oluwamotemi, who said the maps done in the 1960s used in Nigeria were obsolete and could not meet the present realities, said proper mapping was necessary if the war against insurgency, kidnapping, killings and other crimes was to be won.
The NIS president, who spoke in Ado Ekiti on Saturday after reading the communique of the 56th Annual General Meeting/Conference of the institution with the theme, ‘Mapping policies, strategies and spatial infrastructure for sustainable e-governance in Nigeria’, also urged federal and state governments to patronise Nigerian surveyors for quality and cost-effective jobs.
He said, “The first thing the government needs to do to be able to cope with insecurity is proper mapping of this country. That is when you will be able to see what is where and where is what. You will see houses and huts. When people are mobilising to cause trouble, you will see them and can act before they strike.
“For instance, is Sambisa Forest properly mapped? But on the television, you see the information that is being captured with the use of drones, you can imagine, but proper mapping, maybe on the scale of 1 to 1,000, is needed. The police, the military are human beings; they can only work within the limit of their strength and what is available, but the maps are the materials that are actually needed to beat this area of insecurity.”
Oluwamotemi, who said insecurity, which he described as hydra-headed, had made Nigeria lagging in the area of enabling governance, said, “We are ready as surveyors to partake to make the country governable by undertaking our surveying services.”
While bemoaning lack of patronage of Nigerian surveyors by government, he said, “There is nothing in surveying and mapping that a Nigerian surveyor cannot do. Government should patronise its professionals. It would not be costly, it would not be time-barred and you will get good results.
“Let the government do the surveying services that are necessary. There is a need for monitoring of buildings, dams, roads and bridges. There is a problem with roads, incessant building collapses because nobody is monitoring. When you talk of monitoring in the real technical sense, it is done by surveyors,” he said.
“There is need for the revision of existing government policies on Surveying and Mapping to cover areas that have hitherto been neglected, to enhance e-governance in Nigeria,” the communique further said.
“Governments and private sectors are encouraged to engage the services of relevant surveying
practitioners in the discharge of crucial surveying and geospatial components of any natural
resource and infrastructure developments in Nigeria.
“The national and state assemblies and other relevant legislative organs should formulate appropriate policies and strengthen the enforcement of applicable laws on the erection of the building and other infrastructures, to check the incessant occurrence of cases of building collapse all over the country to safeguard the loss of life and properties.
“There is a need for improvement in the provision of adequate spatial infrastructure by relevant authority for a meaningful physical and economic development of Nigeria,” the communique noted.