The Minister of Innovation, Science, and Know-how, Uche Nnaji, has stated that the present administration has made vital strides in strengthening using geospatial expertise, recognising its potential to reinforce governance effectivity and financial improvement.
In accordance with Nnaji, the federal government has successfully leveraged geospatial instruments to establish and get rid of current income blockages, streamline tax assortment processes, and enhance useful resource administration.
“The president has mainstreamed geospatial applied sciences into the blocking of income leakages and the creation of recent income streams.”
“He has additionally authorized 4 new satellites for Nigeria; these efforts are anticipated to help all of the work being carried out inside this ecosystem,” he said on the twenty first Annual Basic Meeting/Convention and GIS Day organised by the Geoinformation Society of Nigeria, on Monday in Abuja.
The occasion, themed “Leveraging Geospatial Applied sciences for Built-in Nationwide Growth,” was attended by the Minister, who was represented by the Director-Basic of the Nationwide Area Analysis and Growth Company, Matthew Adepoju. He said that geospatial applied sciences are indispensable in addressing vital challenges equivalent to city planning, agricultural productiveness, catastrophe administration, and infrastructure improvement.
“Geospatial applied sciences are not non-compulsory instruments; they’re important in addressing challenges equivalent to city planning, agricultural productiveness, catastrophe administration, and infrastructure improvement,” he stated.
“By integrating these applied sciences into our decision-making processes, we are able to improve precision, enhance effectivity, and encourage sustainable progress throughout sectors. As a nation, we stand at a pivotal second the place innovation and expertise should drive our developmental aspirations,” he added.
Geospatial applied sciences, which contain using pc {hardware}, software program, and information, are used to seize, analyse, and show geographically referenced information. These applied sciences assist us perceive and make knowledgeable selections concerning the advanced and dynamic world.
Talking concerning the ministry’s dedication to geospatial expertise, the minister expressed that, “The Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Know-how is dedicated to selling an setting that helps analysis, improvement, and the adoption of rising applied sciences, together with geospatial improvements, to sort out societal challenges and unlock new alternatives.”
“Allow us to renew our dedication to leveraging geospatial applied sciences to construct a extra built-in, inclusive, and resilient nation. Collectively, we are able to unlock the total potential of those instruments to rework lives, communities, and our nation,” he concluded.
Additionally talking on the occasion, the President of the Geoinformation Society of Nigeria, Fitka Bilshakka, advocated for universities to include geoinformation into the Nigerian educational curriculum.
“We’re asking universities to develop a curriculum on geoinformation science in order that our younger folks can develop an curiosity in it and recognise its significance. That’s the reason now we have been visiting universities and secondary colleges to stress the significance of Geographic Data Techniques (GIS),” he stated.
Talking on the benefits of geospatial info, he said that geospatial expertise might deal with nearly all the issues dealing with the nation if used judiciously.
“The large issues confronting our nation in the present day, from safety and the setting to socio-economic points, could be tackled utilizing geospatial expertise. It’s important that repositioning our nation requires information of geospatial expertise to meet up with the remainder of the world. The world has entered the fourth industrial revolution, the place issues are carried out in a different way utilizing synthetic intelligence.”
“If Nigeria is to maneuver ahead in the precise path, geospatial science and expertise, together with geospatial intelligence, should play a serious function in its developmental programmes, beginning with the event of a sturdy geocoded addressing system to help location-based companies, enterprise intelligence, safety, and emergency companies,” he said.
The GEOSON president additional expressed that geospatial applied sciences have elevated the synergy between information throughout numerous sectors, making spatial information infrastructure extra essential and available for decision-making and planning throughout Nigeria’s financial system.
He urged state governments to prioritise the use and software of geoinformation of their respective states, including, “I wish to sincerely urge our state governments to offer larger precedence to the use and software of geoinformation of their states. I might additionally wish to thank the governments of FCT, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Plateau, Lagos, Cross River, Gombe, Edo, Kwara, Taraba, and Benue for selling GIS expertise for good governance and improvement.”
Equally, the Chairman of the Nationwide Inhabitants Fee, Nasir Kwarra, emphasised that, with Nigeria dealing with numerous socio-economic challenges, geospatial expertise might provide a transformative strategy to addressing these points.
“As our nation grapples with numerous socio-economic challenges, geospatial applied sciences provide a transformative strategy to addressing these points. By integrating geospatial information into nationwide planning, we are able to remedy current challenges and anticipate and proactively reply to future ones.”
Nasir additionally said that the Nationwide Inhabitants Fee recognises the vital function that correct demographic and geospatial information play in driving sustainable nationwide improvement.
“On the Nationwide Inhabitants Fee, we recognise the vital function that correct demographic and geospatial information play in driving sustainable nationwide improvement. We accumulate, collate, analyse, publish, and disseminate such information. To assist these features, NPC has established a sturdy geospatial framework, leveraging Geographic Data System applied sciences,” he stated