Govt plans safer aviation sector

Abiodun Fagbemi( The Guardian)

TO check future air mishaps in the country, the Federal Government yesterday announced a comprehensive plan that would ensure the safety of the nation’s airspace.
Vice President Namadi Sambo, who spoke in Ilorin at the opening ceremony of the 47th Yearly General Meeting and Conference of Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS) held in Ilorin with the theme: “Surveying, Disaster Management and Global Warming”, however said the Federal Government’s efforts must be complemented by those of the states of the federation and other relevant agencies so that the exercise would not be futile.
According to the Vice President represented at the event by the Surveyor-General of the Federation, Peter Nwilo, the recent plane disaster in Lagos leading to the loss of lives of many people was still fresh, hence the need to tinker the best way out towards preventing a recurrence of it.
“We all realise that ensuring safety and being able to be properly positioned to manage disasters is predicated on having real-time information on locations and time. This essentially is what maps and its attribute products enable us to do. The government of Nigeria will do everything possible to ensure that our geographical space is properly and comprehensively mapped.”
He added: “The challenge is up to our surveyors to consistently propose plans of effectively doing this through appropriate channels. The office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation is being positioned and enabled to perform its rightful roles. It would be complementary if all state governments do likewise so that in no distant future, our country would possess the spatial knowledge and application capacity to take care of all environment and disaster challenges that may arise.”
Speaking on the right the NIS recently obtained to host in Abuja the world surveying community under the aegis of the International Federation of Surveyors, Sambo said President Goodluck Jonathan, apart from having accepted to be the grand patron of the event, has equally pledged the Federal Government’s commitment to the successful hosting of the global event. The proposed conference is fixed for May 6 and 10 2013.
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