The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, Tuesday, disclosed that the Federal Government is paying serious attention to the agriculture as part of its efforts to diversify the economy.
Fashola, who said the move is redirecting the country from unhealthy path of nono-economy, also stressed the need for application of geospatial inputs to achieve food sufficiency and security in the country.
The minister, who spoke in Abuja at the opening ceremony of the 2021 survey coordination conference and meeting of the advisory board on survey training, also lamented that many Nigerians had failed to tap the rich agricultural resources over the years.
Represented by a director in his ministry, Surveyor Akerele Omolola Oluwatoyin, Fashola said: “Although, we have failed to in tapping our rich agricultural resources over the years, agriculture itself is already encumbered by climatic and environmental factors.
“It means that for us to achieve food sufficiency and security, there is the urgent need of applying geospatial inputs into our agricultural system, hence the incumbent administration is paying diligence to agriculture as part of efforts in achieving the diversification of the economy; the plan is to help in redirecting the country from unhealthy path of mono-economy.’’
Earlier, the acting Surveyor-General of the Federation, Surveyor Abdulganiyu Adeyemi Adebomehin, had disclosed that the Federal Government had franchised its services and some operations to provide easy access to geospatial products for various stakeholders and sectors of the Nigerian economy.
Adebomehin also announced the readiness of his office to migrate from the Nigeria National Origin (NNO) to the World Geodetic System (WGS) 84-International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) 2014, stating that the development would lead to best practices in the geospatial world.
He noted that from 2022, all maps will be produced based on the WGS 84-ITRF 2014, and appealed to all the states to key into it.