Smart cities are technology enabled and digitally enhanced. Most developed cities are regarded as smart as a result of their digitalisation. The Nigeria Institution of Surveyors (NIS) says cities should be smart to boost development, OKWY IROEGBU-CHIKEZIE writes.
FOR Chairman Nigeria Institution of Surveyors (NIS), Lagos Chapter, Mr. Adesina Adeleke, the Lagos State government must seek innovative ways to run the state with an estimated 25 million population.
He spoke at the 34th Annual General Meeting of NIS titled: “Surveying and mapping: The tool for smart city-Lagos.’’
He said though Lagos has taken the lead, it still has a lot to achieve to create a livable city. He advised that the state must translate from being a mega city to a smart city powered by technology and digital information.
He commended the state for taking the lead in innovation and technology with a population estimate of between 18million and 25 million.
Adeshina said Lagos is not easy to manage, saying the pressure on social amenities means the government must work harder.
Presenting a paper, the Rector, Federal School of Surveying, Oyo, Oyo State, Mr. Nihinlola Olayinka, said a smart city is an integration of a digital city with internet. He argued that only a forward-looking leadership thinks of a smart city as it involves huge funding.
He said a growing city would make use of information and communication technology to increase efficiency, share information with the public and improve both the quality of the government and citizens’ welfare.
According to him, the function of a smart city lies in the computing infrastructure and collection and manipulation of large quantities of data to create an environment of efficiency and conservation.
He said surveyors are experts on property and boundary rights.
He lamented that one of the challenges of municipalities is aging infrastructure utility systems, including water supplies and storm –water drainage installed several years ago.
He said municipalities were being forced to spend more money on repairing and modernising the existing infrastructure before upgrading new installations to ‘smart city’ specifications.
He said there was the need for surveyors to step up their game through continuous professional development, maintain a good relationship with the state government and collaborate with other allied professionals as the boundary of professions had collapsed.
Nigeria Institution of Surveyors President, Alabo Charles, said society must grow in sync with technological development, take advantage of them and make life more meaningful and productive.
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He advised that surveyors should be of social, political and economic relevance.
He said: “Today, our society, cities and enterprises are geared towards attaining better economies, efficiency, effectiveness and eco friendliness.
‘’Lagos is in the forefront of this challenge of a mega city working towards attaining smart cities’status. Achieving these objectives must call to play the interface of skills in all professional fields, but fundamentally, surveying and geoinformatics take a primary place of importance not only at the conception of policies but also continually after the actualisation of project dreams, to monitoring of structures and facilities to ensure resilience and sustainability.”
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, represented by the state Surveyor-General, Olutomi Sangowawa, stated that though Lagos is a small city, it is the most economically viable, adding that it was going digital to achieve its aim of making Lagos a smart city.
The governor said the geographic information system (GIS) is an important technology that would enhance survey practice in state as it is designed to capture, store, manage as well as analyse data that would become operational next March.
The governor said it was putting data infrastructure in place to make the GIS operational.
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