ibironkeeniola A former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, has blamed the lingering menace of herdsmen in various parts the country on what he called poor mapping and dearth of geospatial data.
Moghalu, a risk management expert, spoke on Tuesday in Awka, the Anambra State capital during the 53rd Annual General Meeting of Nigerian Institution of Surveyors where he delivered a keynote address.
In his address titled, ‘National Mapping Infrastructure and Geospatial Technologies in Monitoring Disaster for Sustainable Development,” he attributed the country’s inability to conduct credible census to dearth of data. “In Nigeria, everything goes. We don’t even know our population. Worst still is that we rely on foreign bodies to tell us the size of our population and even boundaries,” he said.
Moghalu who was the presidential candidate of the Young Progressive Party in the 2019 General Election asked all tiers of government and corporate bodies to invest in geospatial technology just as he asked the NIS to reposition survey courses to reflect 21st century realities.
He said, “The survey profession has not much meaning to the younger ones. Whenever it is rebranded to reflect digital world, many youths will be attracted to the profession. Rebranding from surveying to reflect geospatial technologies will give it more sense to them”
In his opening remarks, the state Governor, Chief Willie Obiano, who was represented by his deputy, Dr Nkem Okeke, pledged to boost the office of the Surveyor- General in the state to make it technology- driven.
The NIS President, Chief Alabo Charles, in his speech said most state governments only paid lip service to the activities of surveyors in their states.
SOURCE: PUNCH