Surveyor General’s Office Pledges Support Border Communities Development Agency

The Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation has pledged to collaborate with the Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA) in areas such as mapping, identification, and information gathering regarding border communities across Nigeria.

This commitment was made when the BCDA’s Executive Secretary, Dr. Dakorinama Alabo George, paid a courtesy visit to the Surveyor General, Surv. Abuduganiyu Adebomehin, on Tuesday.

The Surveyor General offered to deploy a Geographical Information System (GIS) expert to help establish a GIS Unit within the BCDA, ensuring effective coordination and understanding of border community data.

Dr. George requested unparalleled collaboration to fill gaps and reposition the agency to fulfill its mandate, citing the need for accurate information to reach and support border communities in 105 local governments across 21 states.

The BCDA recently received approval from the Presidency to establish a GIS Unit and dedicate a desk for liaison with the Surveyor General’s Office.

This partnership aims to enhance the agency’s efforts to support and develop border communities.

According to a statement by Sani Datti
Head Press and Public Relations, “If it pleases you, we will be ready to draft one of the best hands to be with you and be in charge of your GIS, as it would not be meaningful if you don’t have someone who understands the transformation and coordinate systems,” he said, noting that it is one thing to have imagery and be able to read it.

Earlier speaking, the Executive Secretary of the Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA), Dr. Dakorinama Alabo George requested for unparalleled collaboration with the Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation to fill in the gaps and with the vision to reposition the agency to be able to fulfill the mandate for which it was established.

He said “We have borders spread along 105 local governments in about 21 states, across all the geographical zones, access to some of these communities is difficult. “So, you begin to wonder how they survive which is one of the reasons we need the support and collaboration of the Surveyor General’s Office, so that we can properly locate and reach out to them and get to know their needs.

“We need every information you can give us regarding our border communities because you have been in touch with them, you have a lot of border data and we want to depend on your field data. We want to tell you that we want to reestablish the collaboration and the existing synergy between your office and our agency”.

The Executive Secretary noted that he recently requested approval from the Presidency for the establishment of GIS Unit in the agency as he wanted a dedicated desk for liaison between the agency and the office of the Surveyor General of the Federation.