Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Works, Sen. Kabiru Gaya, has said that innovations by the African Regional Institute for Geospatial Information Science and Technology (AFRIGIST) in the area of digital photogrammetry and remote sensing can assist in solving insecurity and election issues in the country.
Gaya, a former governor of Kano state, made the submission during the AFRIGIST International Workshop on Digital Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing for Improved Governance held, on Tuesday, in Abuja.
The Senator also said the conference was all encompassing as it brought out more details in assisting many professionals in various fields.
He said for architects, they should be able to know the exact location and the distance of an object or an item within a location before the commencement of planning.
“So, it has been a very important aspect of life. Even the issue of election, they can be helpful to elections.
“With their drones, they can monitor what is happening there and there could be easily a rapid response to that effect,” Gaya said.
Sen. Gaya further said AFRIGIST’s efforts will also help resolve the nagging issues of insecurity.
He said with the innovations of AFRIGIST, the issue of insecurity could be challenged.
“It gives you details of every place, every location. The issue of insecurity, at least, can be challenged and the issue of having good planning in terms of planning of a new city, can be monitored,” Gaya stated.
Also speaking, the Chairman House Committee on Works, Hon. Toby Okechukwu, said AFRIGIST engagement can be used in a multipurpose way such as land mapping, in aviation, as well as security.
“It is to retool ourselves and bring ourselves up to speed with regard to some of these challenges we have that will require to retrain people who are in that profession and all the time, bring them up to what our expectations are,” Okechukwu said.
Okechukwu also said as elections are fast approaching, it is expected of AFRIGIST to deploy its technological expertise for the purpose of elections for a better management of the process.
Speaking earlier, the Executive Director, AFRIGIST, Dr Adewale Akingbade, said the training on manpower development programme, focussed essentially on how technology innovation is changing the paradigm in AFRIGIST area of operation.
He said AFRIGIST, together with Nigeria, is turning a new page in the field of photogrammetry, saying that the programme would impact on Nigeria the entire Africa.