Georges Ghanem states that the creation of parallel agencies undermines Geographic Information System-based land management in Nigeria.

Mr Ghanem, the general manager of GIS/Transport Ltd., stated this in his keynote address at the 46th conference of the National Cartographic Association on Monday in Abuja.

He stated that the coordination of GIS should be driven by the Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation, but noted that some ministries were creating parallel agencies that were often politically motivated.

He added that such agencies were primarily established to prevent interference by the OSGOF, whose constitutional mandate encompasses GIS and related matters. According to him, instead of bypassing the OSGOF by creating a parallel system, the office should be transformed to be more efficient.

“Whenever we are frustrated in the civil service, we create a parallel system because we cannot confront the system which is wrong. If you really want to make land reform, you have to elevate the civil service to a technical level, the capacity building is the main thing.

“So my approach is to digitally transform the whole ministry, which we have done in some ministries instead of creating parallel ministries because you are frustrated with the civil service,” he said.

Mr Ghanem noted that addressing poverty through land ownership was imperative and could be handled efficiently using GIS. According to him, a rough estimate suggests that only 10 percent of Nigerians are landowners, despite the abundance of land.

He described land ownership as a social and cultural stabiliser that provided opportunities for economic empowerment while also generating more revenue for the government, especially when adopting GIS for allocation.

With such development, he said, criminal organisations and terrorists would not easily recruit or infiltrate landowners.

He explained that allocating a large number of land required adequate infrastructure to accommodate the project on a national scale.

The national president of NCA, Mommoh Rilwan, called for the establishment of a regulatory body to oversee mapmaking in Nigeria, describing the move as crucial to ensuring professionalism in the practice.

He stressed that those involved in mapmaking must be certified by a regulatory body that would oversee practitioners.

“It is to ensure the provision of accurate information to support informed decision-making for national development.

“This is to ensure that they have the required skills to produce map that can be used for planning and sustainable development,” he said. 

(NAN)