Surveyors commend Enugu govt for stopping counter- signature

The Nigerian Institution of Surveyors has commended the
Enugu State Government for reversing its decision to
implement counter-signature, a practice whereby the
surveyor-general of the state counter-signs survey plans
already signed by registered surveyors.
Under the counter-signature arrangement, survey plans
cannot be registered with the government unless they are
counter-signed by the surveyor-general.
Although the practice was abrogated by Nigerian
constitution over 30 years ago, Enugu State Government
re-enacted the law in 2004, a development which
prompted the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors to take
the matter to court.
Following the court case, the state government had
reverted to the status quo by stopping further
implementation of the counter-signature procedure.
Leading a delegation of members of the NIS executive
council on a courtesy visit to the Enugu State
Government House, the President of the Institution,
Bern Omo Akhigbe, commended the state government for
the action.
Akhigbe, in the same vein, canvassed the inclusion of
surveyors in road constructions and other engineering
projects in the state, and the country in general.
He also called on the government to remove the surveying
aspect of construction-related contracts from contractors
and engage surveyors separately in order to ensure
quality.
According to him, effective use of surveyors will prevent
most of the problems encountered in land development.
Also, at another courtesy visit to the management of
NTA Zonal Network Center, Enugu, the NIS called
for the establishment of a Survey and Mapping Agency.
The proposed agency will partner with the ministries of
land and environment to ensure that surveying is made part
and parcel of national development initiatives, according to
the NIS.
“Surveying should be taken seriously by the government,”
Akhigbe said, adding that surveying could help to combat
rigging during elections.
According to Akhigbe, “when an area had been surveyed
and the population is known, it will be difficult to rig but
what we have now is that huge figures come from rural
areas where the population is actually scanty, because,
since the areas were not surveyed, they (politicians) can
blow up the figures.”
However, the Assistant Director News, NTA Enugu,
Bennie Mordi, urged the NIS to create more awareness
about surveying in the country.
She observed that members of the public have scant
information about surveying.
“There is not much awareness about surveying – if you ask
the average man on the street he will say ‘what is that?’,”
she said.