NAN-H-85
Disputes
By Uche Bibilari
Abuja, July 17, 2017 (NAN) The Chairman, House Committee on Works, Mr Toby Okechukwu says the proper demarcation of boundaries will reduce incessant boundary disputes and communal clashes in the country.
Okechukwu said this at a five-day training workshop on “Boundary Management in Nigeria’’, which was organised by the Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation (OSGOF) on Monday in Abuja.
The training is in collaboration with Gollaka Development Surveys Nigeria Ltd. and Afri Boundary Experts Nigeria Ltd.
According to him, the training is aimed at bringing surveyors who are in charge of boundary management up to speed and relevance on contemporary issues of effective boundary management.
“When you talk of boundary management, you are talking of peace keeping too because a lot of boundary issues result to conflicts.
“If boundary demarcation can be done prior to any crisis, you are solving a lot of problems, the opportunity cost of not knowing who has what or the demarcation lines is that communities go into conflict.
“The money we spend in fighting wars in communal crisis and the loss of lives is too consequential that if you do have some knowledgeable surveyors of boundary demarcation and management, it will go a long way in solving these challenges’’.
Okechukwu said that boundary issues could be avoided if surveyors do their job well, adding that the training was meant to cure a defect that necessarily should not arise.
He said that surveyors were meant to ensure peace and good governance, as the foundation for peace in Nigeria was placing things properly.
“We have to be very proactive in doing our jobs and by so doing, you must be equipped and that is what the Surveyor-General is doing by this training.
“Once you get your boundaries right and you manage it very well, there will be less communal crisis because the opportunity cost of not identifying our boundary is the expenses you will make in enforcing peace.
“We must not underestimate our responsibility, to ensure peace the surveyor must be in the front burner’’.
He said that about 85 to 90 per cent of human activities would require the services of a surveyor, adding that they need to equip and identify themselves in order for them to be relevant.
According to Mr Ebisintei Awudu, the Surveyor-General of the Federation, 40 members of his staff are participating in this first phase of the training.
He said that some after the workshop would travel abroad for further training in order to be able to tackle the menace of boundary disputes in the country.
“My vision is to ensure that more people are brought up in boundary marking in order to be able to handle the huge boundary definition needs of the country’’.
He said that surveyors need to play their roles as expected by the government and the citizens in terms of boundary demarcation and other aspect of surveying.
Awudu said that surveyors must be unbiased and properly skilled, adding that the confidence repose on them must not be betrayed.
He called on participants to pay key attention to the training as this would help in bridging the gap in boundary crisis. (NAN)
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Edited by Ese E. Ekama