2021 Geoinformation Science Conference: 36 states received $72m from World Bank — Minister

The Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning has secured $2,000,000.00 for each of the States, totalling $72,000,000.00 for the 36 states to developed States’ Land Information System from the world bank.

This was disclosed by the Honourable Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu during the Geoinformation Society of Nigeria Conference, General Assembly and GIS celebration that was recently held in Lagos.

Onu said the world Bank-core objectives was targeted at promoting and implementing very crucial disruptive technological applications in order to assist States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) programme DLI5 on the Land Information System (LIS)  purposely to strengthen Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) collection at state level.

Also, speaking at the event is the Director General National Space Research and Development Agency Dr Halilu Ahmad Shaba, who said the Nigeria foray space science and technology was meant to “effectively handle the nature’s diverse social-cultural and environmental resources where the need for current, accurate and cost-efficient data resources management is enormous.”

Halilu further expressed joy over the progress made in the application of geoinformation and technology in Nigeria, noting that education, climate change, post code and addressing system, disaster management, security, telemedicine and tele-education, navigation, maritime agriculture and many more were key areas that could not be overemphasized.

He, however, advised stakeholders and members of the Society to diligently pursue various smart spatial solutions, citing these areas as panacea for the attainment of the SDGs.

He also said this would further deepen thorough “innovative problem-solving ideas, most especially the Robotic Engineering and Artificial Intelligence.”

While addressing the importance of the event, the President of GEOSON, Dr Matthew Olumode Adepoju stated that the conference was geared at harnessing intellectuals in the sector to share great research and scientific successes.

He said, “The conference promises to delivered an international standard of equal values with the galaxy of presentations, robust discussion and intellectual dexterity of our darling experts in various fields of endeavors.

Adding that, “The Society has brought people from international institutions, top government officials, academics, research institutions, frontline public and private practitioners, students and business gurus as well as technocrats in all works of life together.”

While concluding his speech, the President appreciated all the “members of Local Organizing Committee (LOC) for their excellent performance with the 2021 Conference.”