The National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) is set to partner the National Boundary Commission (NBC) in the deployment of space technology to enhance boundary monitoring.
Speaking during a courtesy call on the commission in Abuja, the director-general of NASRDA, Dr. Halilu Shaba, underscored the need for inter-agency collaboration among relevant stakeholders for the promotion of national interest, saying satellite technologies could be developed and deployed to monitor and provide relevant data on our boundaries and locations for effective policy formulation and implementation.
He further stated that the space agency as a team player was willing to supply the support services needed by the NBC in carrying out its constitutional responsibilities in line with the stipulated mandate designed by government for the collective benefit of the Nigerians.
Shaba also stated that the validation of the ward boundaries for good governance through the Geo-referenced Infrastructure and Demographic Data for Development (GRID3) programme which is anchored by the space agency could only be achieved by a sustained synergy with relevant stakeholders like the NBC which is expected to play a significant role in its actualization.
He described satellite technologies as the chronicle of the earth which have the ability to provide complex data for boundary related issues that generate strife and crisis that are usually along inter-community, inter-local government and inter-state lines.
The NASRDA helmsman opined that this would to an extent provide relevant solutions to the problems that usually arise from these areas at a reduced cost but with great achievements.
Earlier, the NBC director-general, Surveyor Adamu Adaji, had identified NASRDA as a strategic partner in the realization of the NBC mandate which is basically on the determination of boundary related issues.
He said most Nigerian boundaries were determined by the colonialists during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with numerous challenges that required proper and effective boundary re-visitation as suggested by NASRDA.
The NBC boss commended the effort of the space agency in the deployment of its space technologies and capabilities at a time when it was highly needed especially for the resolution of boundary disputes through adequate allocation and delineation of such disputable and crisis ridden areas.
He pleaded with the management of the space agency to organize training and re-training programmes for NBC staff on geo information system (GIS) that allows for proper understanding and definition of our maritime and land boundaries for the collective economic benefit of the country.
Earlier in his remarks, the acting director, strategic space application department, NASRDA, Dr. Mathew Adepoju identified the GRID3 project as the platform provided for spatial data users through which they get relevant information especially as it relates to demarcations and other boundary issues.
Adepoju who is the chairman, project implementation team, GRID3, also said the project was aimed at developing the fourth layer of the Nigerian boundary arrangement which is referred to as the ward boundary system.
He emphasized the need for a sustained synergy between the space agency and the NBC especially in the actualization of the boundary commission mandate of the country.
