NIS
INFORMATION
COMMUNIQUE
OF THE 41ST ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND CONFERENCE OF THE NIGERIAN INSTITUTION
OF SURVEYORS
PREAMBLE
The 41st Annual General
Meeting and Conference of the Institution was held in Akure, Ondo State
from Tuesday 9th to Saturday 13th May 2006. The Governor of Ondo State,
His Excellency, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, declared the AGM and Conference
open.
The
Theme of the Conference was “Surveying, Mapping and Disaster Management”.
Prof. Peter Adeniyi, the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of
Technology, Akure, delivered the Keynote Address. The Conference through
the papers presented discussed disaster reduction and management in
its entire ramification.
The
Conference reviewed the increase in magnitude of hazards and natural
disasters world wide in the past 10 years, which affected 2.5 billion
people, killed 475,100 people and caused economic losses of about U$690
billion. The Conference also noted that Nigeria is not immune to such
risks and hazards as disaster is not native to any nation and hence
the country should as a matter of urgency put in place a viable disaster
reduction and management programme driven by geodata acquisition and
international cooperation. It concluded that disaster reduction and
management is critical to national sustainability. That the country
should stop her attitude of waiting for disaster to happen before responding;
disaster may not be stopped altogether, but its impact can be effectively
reduced through the use of geospatial data. The time to act is now.
RESOLUTION
AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The following resolution
and recommendations were made during the AGM and Conference:
Aware that the basic ingredient of disaster reduction and management
is accurate knowledge of the local, national and international space,
which knowledge is provided by geospatial data, surveying and mapping
products; and the best way to manage and reduce disaster is to get prepared
for it through the use of geospatial data; the AGM recommends that the
nation should immediately embark on creation of a national topographical
database (NTD) which shall be a seamless electronic map covering the
whole country to be driven by Geographical Information System (GIS)
for effective reduction and management of disasters.
Realizing
the importance of sharing of geospatial information with international
community in disaster reduction and management, the AGM recommends the
urgent implementation of the Nigerian Geospatial Data Infrastructure
(NGDI), a prerequisite for benefiting from global initiative on geodata
sharing and access to global, regional, national and local early warning
system for disaster management activities.
Aware
of the importance of global early warning system in disaster management
and reduction; the AGM recommends that Nigeria should implement United
Nations recommendation on disaster management and establish international
collaborative disaster management programme that will enable the nation
to access the international space initiatives on Space Technology for
Disaster Management and Reduction.
Noting
that the office of the Surveyor General of the Federation (OSGF) is
the government body statutorily empowered to: coordinate surveying and
mapping activities all over the country; set standards and policy for
geodata collection, coding and depiction on maps; produce the foundation
framework data needed for National Topographical Database and Natural
Geospatial Data Infrastructure; the AGM recommends that the Office of
the Surveyor General of the Federation (OSGF) should be strengthened
with appropriate budgetary allocation in order to be able to carry out
its statutory duties and make up for many years of under development
of Surveying and Mapping in the country.
Noting
that disaster management in Nigeria through National Emergency Management
Agency (NEMA) is post disaster - “Relief Services” - oriented
and aware that a number of disasters can be prevented by preparedness
through the usage of appropriate geodata, the AGM recommends that NEMA
should give priority to acquisition of geospatial data as part of its
capacity building, and train its staff on the application of geospatial
data for disaster reduction and management at the local, state and national
levels.
Realising
that effective good governance requires accurate and up-to-date geospatial
information, the AGM encourages various levels of government - local,
state and national – to effectively fund surveying and mapping
of the country thereby sustaining democratic practices, and also include
surveyors in all government agencies that are involved in all stages
of environmental and disaster management.
In
view of the absence of surveyors in many of the mining operations in
this country, the AGM recommends the inclusion of Surveyors, for monitoring
purposes, in all mining activities that are likely to result in disasters.
Noting
the advances in digital and space technologies and their influence on
equipment for acquisition and processing of geospatial data, the AGM
recommends that no survey works in the country should be based on “local
origin”, and that campaigns should be intensified to densify survey
controls and ensure conformity with African Reference Framework (AFREF)
project in order to facilitate regional data exchange for disaster management.
ELECTIONS
At the elections
held during the AGM, the following officers were elected to run the
affairs of the Institution for the period 2006 to 2008:
I Surv. (Chief)
Luke Keoye Asika, FNIS President
II Surv. (Dr.) Olusola Atilola, Ph.D., FNIS Deputy president
III Surv. (Chief) Clement I. Nwabichie, FNIS Vice president
IV Surv. Bernard Omo Akhigbe, FNIS Vice President
V Surv. (Chief) Innocent Egbuh, MNIS Secretary General
VI Surv. (Alh) Abdul Rasheed Oladele, MNIS Asst. Secretary general
VII Surv. Leo C. K. Ugwu, MNIS Treasurer
VIII Surv. (Ms) Gertrude N. Njar, ANIS Publicity Secretary
IX Surv. (Alh) Badamasi Tahir, MNIS Financial Secretary
X Surv. A. Jikamshi Halilu, MNIS Internal Auditor
XI Surv. (Dr) Francis O. Overare J.P.,FNIS Imm. Past President
XII Surv. (Alh) Kunle Olabiyi, MNIS Imm. Past Secretary General
APPRECIATION
Finally, the AGM
thanks and commends the government and people of Ondo State for their
hospitability and for providing enabling environment for the Annual
General Meeting and Conference. We also express appreciation to the
Local Organizing Committee of the AGM and Conference and to the keynote
Addressee, Prof. Peter Adeniyi, Vice Chancellor Federal University of
Technology, Akure, Ondo State.
