Nigeria Association of Geodesy (NAG) has decried the non-application of the science of geodesy in tackling national insecurity and in disaster management.
The association said this in a communiqué issued after its 2018 General Assembly, signed by its National President,
Prof. Matthew Ono in Awka.
The General Assembly had “The Place of Space Geodesy in National Security and Disaster Monitoring for Sustainable Development” as its theme.
Geodesy, also known as Geodetics, is the science of accurately measuring and understanding three fundamental properties of the Earth: its geometric shape, its orientation in space, and its gravitational field.
It include changes of these properties with time, by using Global Positioning System (GPS), where geodesists can monitor the movement of a site 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
NAG, therefore, decried poor funding and maintenance of existing geodetic infrastructure.
It stated that “the potential of the centre for Geodesy and Geodynamics in relation to its mandate are underutilised. We deplore the lack of synergy between the office of the Surveyor-General of Nigeria and the geodetic community.
“Also worthy of note is the fact that there are no collaborative efforts among relevant professionals and scientists for
adequate dissemination and application of outcome of geodetic research.
“The conference, therefore, calls on government agencies that are involved to optimally utilise the science of Geodesy
in tackling national security and disaster mitigation.
“We call on relevant authorities to measure and adequately fund the maintenance of existing geodetic infrastructure,
while funding new ones.
“We appeal for better collaboration with professionals for dissemination of geodetic research outcome.”
The association also called for adequate equipping and right staffing of the Centre for Geodesy and Geodynamics
so that it could deliver on its mandate, adding that the outcome of the conference was recommended for attention and implementation by government and relevant institutions.