OSGOF to carry out first of its kind task in Africa – Surveyor-General

The Surveyor General of the Federation (SGOF) Abduganiyu Adebomehin has hinted that Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation would be carrying out first of its kind task in Africa.

Adebomehin made the revelation during his briefing with the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development Dr Shuaib Belgore at the Ministry’s Conference room in Abuja today.

In his remarks the Surveyor General said “We want to carry out an assignment, which will be the first of its kind in Africa. We want to see if we can use a drone, carry out a survey, and we will have every building standing the way they are. They are called digital twin mapping. “
Adding that “We are going to receive two or three expatriates from the United Nations. Because we don’t have the technical know-how to process it, even though we have the drone. So we wrote them for assistance. And they said they will be of assistance.”

He said this assignment ought to have been done almost eight or nine months ago. SGOF added, “we keep on reshaping and reshaping and last week we were happy that they gave their note that they will be here.”

Abdulganiyu further hinted that for the next three weeks, his agency will carry out the mapping of Abuja, a session of it, as per the approval given by presidency.
He assured the Permanent Secretary that when the assignment is completed they would present the report before him .

While making a remark on the importance of Surveying, he said, “out of the 17 SDGs, 14 of the 17 directly refer to surveying. And that is why there is a body that is called UN-GGIM, United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management.

“They are the anchor of the SDG. And 14 of it speak to surveying directly. So the office is equally a signatory to Africa.
And that is why we have this school. We used to call it Africa, but now it’s Africa Regional Institute for Science and Information.

“So the school, what they do is basically to close up the gaps, because it’s a specialized school, to close up the gap between what government on its own can provide and what it is being practiced outside the shore of the Country.”
.SGOF said, “So on achievement, I always like to measure my achievement as far as the number of staff we have already been able to impact.

“To this, I would say we have been able, through our collaboration with United Nations, to train over 100 staff online, we want to use them as focal point for the new drive of the office.

“We have provided Government and the public with relevant products and alternatives through user requirement analysis and make appropriate policies that will be in consonance with the changing roles of Surveying and Mapping”

He said his achievement include creation maintenance of a National Repository of Metadata for all trigonometrical, cadastral, topographical, hydrographic and geodetic data in the Federation;
“Create and maintain Survey Units in relevant Federal MDAs and Support MDAs in the area of mapping and geo-spatial information”.

Permanent Secretary while responding to the SGOF presentation said the Ministry would assist OSGOF in area of special intervention fund in acquisition of satellite images, server, office space and demanded for presentation of Cap.

“194 Survey Act of 1962 presentation in his office, which is the Survey Co- ordination Act, in order to help the organization with the right legislation and amendment.

Management Staff of Office of Surveyor General of the Federation and Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development with stakeholders were in attendance during the presentation.