The Surveyor General of the Federation (SGoF), Surv. Abuduganiyu Adebomehin, has advocated for the introduction of geospatial information for disaster management, mining activities, and water resource management in Nigeria.
He called on the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS) and the Surveyors Council of Nigeria (SURCON) and other stakeholders to collaborate with them to achieve it.
Adebomehin, who made the call at the National Conference of Women In Surveying (WIS) in Uyo, said the geospatial information can also grow downstream, health, tourism, air space, construction industry and economic activities as well as imbibe the culture of using geospatial data in development plan and implementation.
Adebomehin, therefore, said such celebration would stimulate the appropriate reactions from the policymakers and political leaders towards promoting its activities,surveying associations in developed countries usually celebrate Global Surveyor’s Day.
He enjoined WIS to initiate activities that would encourage interest of the profession in the womenfolk, pledging that OSGoF would evolve a structure to support Nigerian female Surveyors and induced attention in order to bridge the gender gap.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Surveyor-General, Olutomi Sangowawa, has urged residents to engage surveyors in all their development to avoid wastages caused by imprecision.
Sangowawa spoke in Lagos during a road walk by Association of Private Surveyors of Nigeria (APPSN) to mark 2022 Surveyors Global day in Lagos, themed: “Surveying and Geoinformatics: Location is Life.”
The surveyor-general said the day was set aside to globally recognise services provided by surveyors either in civil, military application or defence capability.
Surveying, he said, is an important profession as there is no construction company that does not have a surveyor, because it helps in cost reduction.
Also, the Secretary of Research and Development, Building Collapse Protection Guild (BCPC), Olugbenga Alara, said there is no meaningful development without surveying as surveying is the bedrock of all developments.
Alara, former president, APPSN of Lagos chapter, said the event was to create awareness of the importance and services rendered by surveyors in creating an orderly society.
On the issue of precision, he warned that those who compromise precision pay a heavy cost because it is the bedrock of surveying profession.
Alara also spoke on the contentious issue of costing, stressing that surveyors are very reasonable in their charges as a professional body because they abide on the scale of price that guides their practice, which is in line with the realities of the society.
He said: “ We are part of the society, we have families and we have our profession to develop, hence, we need all these to guide us because we are not out to reap off our clients or the society.
“Our fees in Lagos are very moderate and reasonable compared to the value of all other inputs that go into development.”
