NIS urges protection of survey monuments

The Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS), Lagos State branch has solicited the cooperation of members of the public to protect survey markers in the state.

Chairman of the branch, Adeleke Adesina who made the call during a retreat organised by the Institution urged the public not to see survey marks as ordinary blocks.

Expressing displeasure at the high rate of destruction of survey control monuments across the state, Adesina explained that survey monuments are permanent markers whose position are known and are used for the coordination and re-establishment of subsequent controls and survey points.

Adesina’s position was against the backdrop of a report of a threat to another control monument around Topo in Badagry Local Government Area of the state by residents of an estate.

Meanwhile, during a visit to the location with some officers of the Institution and staff of the Lagos State Surveyor Generals office, Adesina educated construction workers and some residents of the estate on the importance of the survey monuments.

According to him, the monuments are made with metal rods buried into the ground, cast in concrete, and rising at least a meter above ground level. “They are often marked with a series of alphabets and numbers and they are not to be defaced, destroyed or removed”, he said.

The chairman affirmed; “Under the SURCON Act cap 425 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, traditional rulers, local government chairmen and occupiers of properties where the beacons are located are empowered legally to protect survey markers.

“It is however unlawful to willfully deface, destroy or remove a survey marker.” He noted that members of the public often do not remove or destroy a survey marker out of malice; they do so out of ignorance about the importance of such markers.

Adeleke explained that absence of accurate survey monuments can compromise the integrity of survey data despite the fact that accurate Survey data is the bedrock of every meaningful infrastructural development adding that the continual destruction of Survey monuments will lead to disconnections between old and new Surveys and ultimately an impediment to development in areas where the monuments are destroyed.

He appealed to members of the public to report any threat or destruction of survey markers to the office of the State Surveyor General, the state branch of the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors, or the nearest police station.