Surveyors Harp On Course Accreditation

Institutions of higher learn ing in Nigeria offering survey and geo-informatic programmes illegally have been directed to seek accreditation without further delay in order not to put the future of their products in jeopardy.

This directive is one of the fallouts of the just-concluded 2012 coordination and Advisory Board on Surveying Training Conference in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

In a communiqué issued at the end of the 3-day conference organised by surveyors in Nigeria, the Surveyor-General of the Federation, Prof. Peter Chigozie Nwilo, who did not disclose the schools offering surveying and geo-informatic programme illegally, said both the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS) and the Surveyors’ Council of Nigeria (SURCON) would be forced to use the sledge hammer on their products.

Prof. Nwilo stressed the need for all institutions offering Surveying and geo-informatics to have a registered Surveyor in the department, explaining that the aim was to ensure standard in the training of students.

The conference with the theme “Review of the Survey. Coordination Act in tune with current challenges “also agreed to update surveying and mapping standards, specifications, procedures, framework, guidelines and policies in line with global best practices.

The conference participants expressed gratitude to Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and the people of Rivers State for excellent hosting of the conference. The 2013 conference is scheduled for Zamfara State.

The Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen, in his keynote address at the Port Harcourt conference, said it has become necessary to review the Act because over time, technologies, mode of data acquisition and storage, and management technique used in surveying and mapping have substantially changed.

Sam Eleonu