Surveyor General calls for upgrade of Federal School of Surveying, Oyo to Federal University of Geomatics

 

By: Clem Ezeolisah 

The Surveyor General of the Federation (SGOF), Surv. Abuduganiyu Adebomehin has called for the upgrade of the Federal School of Surveying, Oyo(FSS ) to  Federal University of Geomatics.

He made the call while supporting the  bill for the creation of the University during his presentation at the Senate Public and Stakeholders hearing on the bill last week, according to the release by Henry David, Head, Information and Public Relations, Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation.

While supporting the bill before the senate committee, he said, “I am here today to equally support our senators to move that the oldest federal Institution in the land of Nigeria be converted to a university. FSS is about 106 years old and one of the foremost institution that teaches Hydrography, this is a school that should be given the utmost attention because it is the cradle of surveying in Nigeria” 

“If you look at the crops of surveyors we have in Nigeria year to year, I want to say about 70% of us passed through that school. So it is not a good thing when we talk about technological advancement and we still decide to leave the school behind. So I want to appeal to the Chairman of the Committee on Tertiary Institution and Tetfund to take a look at the school and see how we can upgrade the school to a university, so that the school can take some courses our people go to study abroad “

The Deputy President of the Senate, Barau Jibrin in his remarks said, “we support opportunities for innovation, social development, inclusiveness and equity for all Nigerians in educational attainment, education is not a privilege but a right. We support part of the innovation that we need for many generations to come. My participation is constitutionally imperative to ensure that our policies speak to the society, contribute maximally to shaping the institution of a refined and ambitious future. I am not only a sustainer, I am a means for any flexible community to convince each other of the future.

The sponsor of the  bill proposing for the Federal University of Geomatics and the Senate Chairman for South West Development Committee, Senator Yunus Abiodun Akintunde in his remarks said “for the surveying and mapping sector, Geomatics is the discipline concerned with the collection, distribution of storage analysis and presentation of data and analysis of geographical information, Information Technology (IT) consists of product services and tool in the collation, integration and management of geographic data and it is recognized by the UNESCO.

He added, “the scope of technological advancement has revolutionized many industries, infrastructure, environment, security and even health care; these are the things we need for emergence of modern technology such as clouding computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), GEO AI and machine learning. The skill will keep Nigeria on track to the best possible international standard especially in the rapid technological advancement”. He further noted that FSS can boast of human and infrastructural development and capacity to seamlessly adapt to a new feature as a university.   

His Royal Majesty, Alaafin of Oyo I, Oba Abimbola Akeem Owoade who was represented at the hearing spoke in defense of the bill, “as a matter of fact, when other institutions were being upgraded, the School of Surveying was left out.  So it is timely now to see that this school should be upgraded to a University of Geomatics”. He further noted that the departments there are really expandable and they have become autonomous. The institution has been offering diplomas, international diplomas, and postgraduate diplomas. There is not much to say about justification because I have said already, but I want to say that surveying is cardinal to land, and land is fundamental to development.” 

The six bills that were considered by the senate committee on Tertiary Institutions and Tetfund were as follows: Federal University of Health Sciences, Funtua; Federal University of Geomatics, Oyo, Federal University of Education (Special Oyo), Federal University of Technology and Vocational Studies, Yaba; Federal University of Technolgy, OmokU; Federal University of Technolgy, Ikot Abasi.