The Nation Newspaper

Tag: mapping

  • Don seeks national soils survey and mapping

    THE Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Prof. Felix Salako, has said efforts to modernise agriculture are being done without sufficient scientific data on soil types and capability for crop performance.

    Salako, who spoke during a visit to Vintage Press Limited, Publishers of The Nation, said it was necessary to carry out a national soil survey, and develop extensive information for land use planning.

    The National Soils Map, he said, was developed in 1992 and is outdated.

    He spoke of the need to carry out a fresh national soils survey and develop a soil map to determine the suitability of growing various crops in different areas of the country.

    According to him, preparing soils map for a specific region is very important to support agricultural productivity by identifying and recommending specific fertiliser for specific place.

    The map, he said, will help to transform the agriculture sector by improving the fertility of soil to support agricultural transformation.

    He noted that the agriculture sector is facing serious challenges due to long-standing practice that the same kind of fertiliser should uniformly be used across various soil types.

    On the livestock industry, Salako said the university was conducting a research to improve it, adding that the university developed what it called first improved indigenous chicken breed – the FUNAAB Alpha.

    According to him, the locally-bred chickens were developed after 24 years of rigorous selection, cross breeding, as well as on-station and on-farm testing across five agro-ecological zones of Nigeria.

    Salako, who  explained that the university established the first Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics in the country in 1990, said the latest discovery was achieved under the headship of a distinguished animal breeder, Prof. Olufunmilayo Adebambo.

    Salako said: “Under her headship, she was challenged to work on animal breeds that would be acceptable to Nigerians. She took up this challenge in 1994 to work and develop the local chicken breeds of Nigeria to international standard.”

    While the VC said the breed was comparable to internationally acclaimed chickens, he added that the university had successfully placed on the Nigerian poultry market a dual purpose breed of chicken tested in rural households, suitable for egg production and poultry meat.

  • ‘Use risk mapping for counter-terrorism operations’

    A security expert, Dr Ona Ekhomu, has urged the military to utilise operational risk mapping methodologies in conducting counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations.

    He said this would reduce the probability of loss resulting from inadequate or failed procedures, systems or policies in combating terrorism and insurgency.

    Ekhomu spoke at the Counter-terrorism and Counter-insurgency (CTCOIN) lecture at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC) in Jaji, Kaduna State.

    The security expert noted that threats including insurgency, militancy, terrorism, ethnic rebellion, piracy, trans-border crimes, militant pastoralism and kidnapping require military assets to handle properly.

    Using risk mapping tools will enable the military to be proactive and prevent catastrophic losses, he said.

    Risk mapping, Ekhomu said, involves conducting risk identification, risk assessments, risk mitigation, counter-measures implementation and performance evaluation.

    Speaking on the topic, titled: International and Regional Mechanisms for Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency Operations, Ekhomu, who is President of the Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operations of Nigeria (AISSON), told members of Senior Course 40 of the college that people and processes would inherently incur errors and militate against CTCOIN operations.

  • Cross River for geological mapping

    The sister-state agreement entered into by Cross River State with the Shaaan Xi Province of  China is bearing fruit with the arrival of experts from the Chinese province to undertake the geological mapping of the  state.

    Receiving a delegation from the Chinese province in Calabar, Governor Ben Ayade  said the exercise was geared towards establishing a comprehensive and detailed database of all solid minerals deposit in the state.

    Commissioner for  Solid Minerals George Oben-echi  said the visit  was the outcome of a sister-state agreement earlier signed by Cross River ànd Shaan Xi Province.

    He noted that the governor of the Chinese province has set up the Cross River/Shanxi bilateral trade centre in China, while speaking of plans for a similar office in Calabar.

    Head of the Chinese delegation Mr Fan Jing said they were in the state  “ based on the MOU we signed with you (Ayade) during your last visit to Shaan Xi Province.”

    He said the team consists of  “senior geologists and l think we can provide you with good geological data.”

    The leader expressed confidence in the team’s ability to carry out a detailed survey of mineral deposits in the state,

    Ayade said: “l am very convinced that you and your team are very senior geologists in China and l know you will deploy your equipment  soil aimed in identifying every single mineral that is in our soil. l believe that by the time you are done, Cross River State will have a map to show us by geo-positioning every single mineral we have in our soil.”

    Ayade said: “This is just one of the  fallouts of my earlier visit where we signed a sister-state agreement. It is on the strength of that sister-state agreement that we have a team from the minerals and geophysical unit here. They have come here with all the digital equipment and paraphernalia required for a detailed geological survey to create a new mineral resource map for Cross River State.”

    The governor added that “as a state, we recognise the technical and financial difficulties making it impossible for us to do a complete mapping. I took out detailed time to find out people from South Africa to carry out this same work, but the cost was prohibitive making it impossible for us to sustain the cost so I sought a different alternative, which was China.

    “I am happy to announce to Cross Riverians that with the contact of my commissioner for Solid Minerals and myself, we have an amalgam of intellectuals and highly skilled senior geologists from the Province of Shaan Xi to work with us towards mapping out all our minerals in the 18 local government areas, with no cost to be borne by the state.

    “They are here to investigate the quality and quantity of each mineral and at what point you have what  mineral and in which local government area.”

     

  • NIS chief blames IDP, camp bombing on improper mapping

    Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS) President Mr. Akin Oyegbola has blamed the accidental bombing of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp in Rann, Borno State on the lack of proper mapping of the country’s landscape.

    He said it was regrettable that the  accident occurred because the flight crew was not aware of the location of the IDP Camp when it was bombed.

    “The digital method of processing, managing, storing and presenting geo-spatial information would have made possible mapping of the IDP Camps as they were being sited. If the IDP Camps have been mapped the position of one of them would not have been mistaken for that of Boko Haram,” he said.

    While calling on the Federal Government to ensure adequate mapping of the country, the NIS President explained that the case in point shows how important mapping is to all human activities on land and how much Nigeria has relegated it to the background, insisting that the most mapped countries are the most developed ones.

    He regretted that the little efforts that were being done by the government and the private sector is not well coordinated for optimal use, assuring that his institute would continue its awareness, enlightenment, and publicity drive to make government and all concerned understand the need to earmark enough funds for Surveying and Mapping in the budget.

  • Agency trains enumerators on rural mapping

    IN its quest to produce an empirical database for planning and implementing agricultural and rural development programmes in the country, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has trained 50 enumerators on rural infrastructure survey and welfare statistics this year.

    Justifying the need for the training, Acting-Director of the federal Department of Rural Development, Mr. Musibau Azeez, in an open remark at a one-day workshop in Benin City, said the training was to promote increased capacity for improving the implementation of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) of the federal government.

    Azeez said the training was geared towards promoting awareness and knowledge to impact positively on rural dwellers.

    “It is also our objective to provide analysis of the various communities and rural welfare indicators to determine priority areas of the communities for appropriate intervention through articulated strategies, programmes and project to close gaps,’’ he said.

    Also speaking at the occasion, Edo State Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Abdul Oroh, said the training was necessary to enable them identify the priority areas that needs government interventions in the rural areas.

    He said the state has registered a total of 120, 000 farmers through the growth enhancement support scheme.

  • Delta to begin land mapping for cassava

    The Delta State government has said it would begin land mapping for the proposed Federal and State government commercial cassava production in Abraka.

    The state Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr Misan Ukubeyinje, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen during a joint inspection tour of the 6,000 hectares allocated for the project in Abraka.

    According to him, the state Ministry of Lands, Survey and Urban Development will commence the mapping of the land areas quickly to enable the planting of cassava commence on target in April.

    Ukubeyinje said that the Federal Government would be establishing 18 of such farm projects across the country, adding that the state government was fortunate to be one of the beneficiaries.

    He said that although a partnership project, the state government was responsible for providing access roads to link the various location of the farm because the 6,000 hectares may not be concentrated in one location.

    Ukubeyinje said that the modalities and cost of running the projects would be spelt out, adding that it would be managed by experts in the private sector.

    “The Federal government will soon commence the process of land clearing and preparations for the planting to commence in April while the cassava processing mill will be completed before the end of this year.

    “We have inspected the land needed for both the cassava processing mills which is about 20 hectares and that for the cassava cultivation.

    “We can also partner the neighbouring communities around Abraka if we need more land for the projects,’’ Ukubeyinje said.

    The commissioner lauded the monarch, His Royal Majesty, Air Vice Marshall Lucky Ararile, the Ovie of Umiaghwa-Abraka Kingdom for his understanding and support.

    He said that the monarch did not only approve the use of the land for the projects but was working ahead of the team by engaging the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture to produce out growers.