The acting Surveyor General of the Federation (SGoF), Surveyor Abduganiyu Adeyemi Adebomehin, has called for the re-mapping for the country, arguing that the exercise would deal with various challenges counting against the genuine commitment and efforts of the Federal Government towards achieving a more effective security network, supportive environmental order, physical infrastructure and socioeconomic system to guarantee sustainable development.
A statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by the Head of Press and Public Relations in the Office of Surveyor-General of the Federation, Mr Abu, I. Michael, quoted Adebomehin who spoke during the 2022 budget defence of his office before the House Committee on Works and Housing at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja.
He disclosed that the current Nigeria Map was produced for the country by the Canadian Government in 1970, and that what OSGoF does was to continue to update the map from time to time hence a new one has not been produced since then.
Adebomehin reasoned that the country would continue to find it difficult to make effectual decisions, plan well and successfully implement or execute her people-oriented and developmental projects without current topographical sheets that could provide the leadership timely and reliable data to work on.
Poor funding of the office, according to him, had hindered the production of current topo-sheets, provided a good number of Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) across the country, and maximized the High Performance Data Centre of the Office among others.
According to the acting SGoF, OSGoF would require a drone that could fly for a certain period of time to generate data for a complete topo-sheet.
He assured that if properly funded OSGoF could provide the necessary support to enhance the country’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), combat her security challenges, and support the Nigerian satellite system, weather forecast among many more.
Members of the House Committee on Works and Housing chaired by Honourable Abubakar Kabir Abubakar acknowledged the relevance of OSGoF and requested its leadership to provide the committee with critical documents for more information and intelligibility for better appropriation hence there could be a need for further interaction.
