Surveyor General Seeks Use of GIS in Execution of Public Projects

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Surveyor General of the Federation, Abdulganiyu Adebomehin, has called for the deployment of Geographic Information System (GIS) in the planning and implementation of public projects in the country.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2023 GIS Day celebration in Abuja, Adebomehin underscored the critical role of GIS in enhancing national security as well as its socio-economic development.

Explaining that the GIS programme remains the nucleus of any enterprise or operation, the surveyor general said it was an important tool for data collection, analysis and distribution as well as retrieval for updating of management plans.

According to him, it is also a veritable apparatus for urban planning and development, soil types identification and analysis, water management, among others.

While calling for the establishment of the National Geospatial Data Infrastructure (NGDI) to improve mappings, and aid the fight against insecurity, Adebomehin argued that the data infrastructure would also boost the country’s economy.

He explained that the database infrastructure would further grant access to accurate mappings for the benefit of Nigerians.

“We are advocating for National Geospatial Data Infrastructure because, on its own, it is an infrastructure. It is just like the road network infrastructure, the railway infrastructure, and every other thing you want to talk about.

“So the National Data Geospatial Infrastructure is an infrastructure on its own. But it must run on a platform. It runs on that platform, where we link all the data that are in silos together as data for the nation,” he said.

Also speaking, the co-Founder and Director of Operations, Observatory Earth Analytics, Joseph Aro, said that as the future of GIS unfolds, it demands long-term planning and sustained investment.

Aro added that the transformative potential of GIS was not realisable overnight, but required a strategic vision that extends beyond immediate objectives.

 On his part, a former Director/Chief Executive Officer of Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS), Dr. Isa Jalo, said the GIS would help in the exchange of data nationwide.

He added that building a good land administration system would help to boost the nation’s economy, explaining that this could be achieved through the application of GIS, which was critical to land management going by the growing population in Nigeria.