By Olukayode Idowu
The Surveyor General of the Federation, Surv. Abuduganiyu Adebomehin has called for more funds to be made available to the office in order to create metadata mapping cloud storage system and make the information easily accessible by all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) that require the service.
He stated this during a briefing to the new Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Work in Abuja. He said: “One of our critical projects that need urgent attention at the office is keeping our data in cloud storage for easy accessibility by all that require the service, but, inadequate budgetary allocation is negatively affecting the execution of the project.”,
Abuduganiyu said the office has created and maintained National Repository of Metadata for all trigonometrical, cadastral, topographical, hydrographic, and geodetic data in the Federation, and that the office is determined to maintain the vision of meeting the geospatial information needs of the country in all ramifications and its mission of providing timely, reliable, and accurate geospatial information to users.
“Surveying and Mapping are the bedrock of any sustainable development, hence more investments are required for the office to meet its constitutional and statutory roles for sustainable national development and security.
“This call is even more apt now, following the greater awareness and requests from various MDAs on the use of geospatial information for their sustainable planning and for informed decision making”, he said. In his response, the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Yakubu Kofar-Mata harped on the importance of mapping in national development and advised the Surveyor General to write a letter of appeal with justification for more funding to execute priority projects.