- FG Trains Surveyors in Boundary Management
In a bid to address communal conflicts caused by boundary disagreements in the states, the Federal Government, through the Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation, has embarked on boundary management training for surveyors from various states, ministries, departments and agencies.
It said the idea of the training was to bring the surveyors up to speed with respect to finding sustainable solutions to crises caused by boundary disagreements.
The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Works, Toby Okechukwu, and the Surveyor-General of the Federation, Ebisintei Awudu, told journalists on the sidelines of the training programme for 40 surveyors in Abuja on Friday that it was important to curb communal crises in states by adequately empowering surveyors.
Okechukwu said, “The idea of this training is to bring surveyors who are in-charge of boundary management up to speed. And when you talk about boundary management, you are talking about peace-keeping too, because a lot of boundary issues result to conflict. If that activity can be done earlier prior to any crisis, then you are solving a lot of problem.
“The opportunity cost of not knowing who has what or the demarcation line is what often makes communities to go into conflicts, and the money we spend on fighting wars, on communal clashes, as well as loss of lives is consequential. But if you have surveyors, who are knowledgeable in boundary demarcation and management, it will go a long way in solving some for these challenges.”
Okechukwu noted that improper boundary demarcation might have been one reason why Nigeria lost the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon, adding that many states had communities that were in conflict because of poor boundary demarcation.
