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‘Obsolete map responsible for erroneous bombing of IDPs camp in Borno State’

By Julius Osahon, Yenagoa
15 May 2017   |   4:02 am
The Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS) has said that the obsolete map was responsible for the erroneous bombing of the Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Rann Village in Kala-Balge Local Council of Borno State by the military early this year.

IDPs. PHOTO: blogs.cfr.org

Surveyors urge regular update of Nigeria’s chart

The Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS) has said that the obsolete map was responsible for the erroneous bombing of the Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Rann Village in Kala-Balge Local Council of Borno State by the military early this year.

It, therefore, advocated for regular update of the country’s chart.The President, NIS, Akinloye Oyegbola, who spoke at the weekend in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, at the close of the 52nd yearly general meeting of the body with the theme “Mapping in the Extractive Industry” with emphasis on generation of ideas to diversify the Nigerian economy through the extractive industry, said the error would not have occurred if the map used for the operation was updated.

He canvassed regular update of the country’s map by the government to avoid such tragedy in the future.He said: “The map we have on ground is very obsolete. If we are really to develop in a sustainable manner, we should intensify our mapping and not just the general mapping, but map for different purposes.

‘’The one we have now has not covered the whole country and the one that covered the country is very obsolete.‘’When the IDP camp was erroneously bombed, there was a release that whatever map used for that trip was not updated. If updated, the IDP camp would have been on the map. And if it was on that map, there was no way they could have bombed the IDP camp erroneously.

“It is always said that the most developed countries are the most mapped countries in the world. There is a reason for that because they already know what mapping is all about and they want their own development to be in a sustainable manner, that is why you have it like that and that is what we are advocating for in our own country.”

He lamented that despite the importance of surveyors to national development, many Nigerians have yet to know when to seek their services as they instead engaged the services of non-professionals.

The NIS President, who also expressed concern that in the construction of bridges, houses and other structures, surveyors were not accorded their full compliments as other registered professional bodies, said: “People often forget that in anything you do on land, survey comes in first. But many people don’t know about this fact and those who seem to know, actually know very little about it.

“In those colourful bridges and imposing structures you see across the country, the surveyors have worked tirelessly to make their columns stand as balanced as they look, but many people do not understand that. “That is why when it comes to government and the award of contracts for development projects, we are always taking the back seat.”

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