Surveyors solution to incessant infrastructural decay – SURCON Registrar

In an effort to curtail the spate of decay in infrastructure as well as prevent the resultant colossal losses, the Registrar, Surveyors Council of Nigeria (SURCON), Surv. Suleiman Hassan has stressed the need for the involvement of surveyors from the inception of key infrastructural structures in the country. Surv. Hassan who spoke in Abuja  at […]

In an effort to curtail the spate of decay in infrastructure as well as prevent the resultant colossal losses, the Registrar, Surveyors Council of Nigeria (SURCON), Surv. Suleiman Hassan has stressed the need for the involvement of surveyors from the inception of key infrastructural structures in the country.

Surv. Hassan who spoke in Abuja  at the Quarterly Lecture of the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (FCT Chapter); stated that the surveying and mapping profession; though silent in its operation; was the bedrock of any meaningful development in a given society.

He added that the engineers, architects and other professionals involved in construction works are easily identified while the surveyor, who gives the topography of the area, identifying if the site was safe or not for such structures was hardly accorded the recognition due to him.

According to him, government on its part had equally not given the profession its pride of place, stressing that if the contributions of the surveyors are properly acknowledged, it will add value in the fields of agriculture, education, health, national planning, etc.

The registrar disclosed that the occasion of such lectures by the Institution provides an opportunity to sensitize the surveying community in the Federal Capital Territory with the present administration’s aspirations, especially in the midst of scarce resources, noting that value can also be added to revenue generation if surveyors’ data are appropriately utilized.

Delivering a paper on Trends in Surveying and Mapping in Nigeria, the Guest Speaker, Prof. Isi Ikhoria stated that there is the need to synchronize past maps and records of surveyors with the present with a view to putting the records in proper order. He further stressed the need for surveyors to be included in every team set up for any developmental activity in the country. 

To forestall further flooding activities as witnessed recently in Sokoto, Lokoja, Niger Delta, etc; geospatial data should be employed, he said. This is just as he added that where such geo-information is provided, the direction given should be followed to the latter, especially now, with the improvement in technology.

Also speaking, the Chairman, NIS, FCT Chapter, Surv. Chimezie Azuonwu stressed that government places more value on engineers and only gives attention to the surveyors when there are crisis. “No country can do without surveyors,” he added.