The Federal Government will need at about N1 billion budgetary allocations to revamp its 10-year old Geospatial Data Centre to make data, other products and services accessible globally.
When revamped, the apex surveying and mapping establishment will serve countries in the West African sub region, South Africa and Kenyan, as well as make provision of requisite data for all sectors of the economy.
Surveyor General of the Federation, Abduganiyu Adeyemi, who stated these at a media parley in Abuja, said the centre when operational would boost revenue generation of the government.
Adeyemi also explained that government has demonstrated its commitment when it invited Information Communication Technology (ICT) experts with Microsoft from the United States to visit to assess and resuscitate the centre.
He declared: “To further enhance the general capacity of the centre in providing optimal services, and real-time products and geospatial data, Ground Penetrating Radar System (GPSR) has been procured by the government.
“This will help in determining infrastructure, such as conduit cables, pipes and other materials under ground. We are working towards overhauling the high performance data centre.”
Explaining further, Adeyemi said: “We have developed a weather station for climate change. It has started generating data to enhance precision forest of weather, while protecting the country’s territorial area to monitor internal security.
“We intend to discourage illegality in the activities of surveying and mapping to maximise economic gains. We have been hearing of collapsed buildings, bridges and others, as a result of some form of deformation.”
To reposition his office to adequately discharge its statutory duties, Adeyemi said, “they have concluded arrangements for the installation of new Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) and rehabilitate 10 others in the country.
“Experts from Portugal are currently training 24 surveyors selected from National Boundary Commission (NBC) and the Surveyors Council of Nigeria (SURCON). With technology, we can determine people entering our country,” he said.
