The Federal Government has inaugurated the newly appointed council members of the Surveyors Council of Nigeria (SURCON), which replaced the defunct Surveyors Licensing Board of Nigeria.
Speaking during the inauguration in Abuja, Thursday, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), charged the newly appointed members to see the leadership of the professional body as an opportunity to contribute to the development of quality manpower for the nation.
According to him, the appointments aim to develop quality manpower for the prosperity and development of Nigeria adding that the success and productivity of any nation depends on quality human capital.
He said, “In this inauguration which I undertake on behalf of Mr President, I want to stress the fact that this is a leadership body. This is a time to serve. This is an opportunity that is very rare. You are serving as manpower developers. You are to develop Nigeria’s human capital and the next generation of people who would take over from us.
“The prosperity of Nigeria depends solely on the quality of its human capital – what kind of people are we going to produce, what skills will they have, what kind of goals will they reach for, and what problems can they solve? Your appointment is to determine those who will play in the field of developing and harnessing geospatial data. This is a task of nation-building. Some others are elected, but you are appointed to serve and help rebuild Nigeria.
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“We can vouch for your confidence to be here. However, what we cannot vouch for is your ego: How big is your ego? How brittle is your ego? This is what will be responsible for how you participate. You must be willing to work with people; treat them with respect and as your equal.”
Emphasizing on the importance of quality and reliable manpower development for the country, the Minister affirmed that the prosperity of Nigeria depends on quality human capital made up of people who have skills to formulate policies and implement same as well as proffer appropriate solutions to problems when they arise.
Speaking further, the Minister charged the Council members to work towards the acceleration of the gathering of quality and adequate geospatial data for the country, noting that any country with an organized, adequate, handy and quality data has a secured prosperity for its citizenry.
Fashola further advised the SURCON members to, as a matter of importance, shun ego in the discharge of their duties in order to avoid actions that could jeopardise and affect their outputs in a negative way.
“Concentrating on the assignment will facilitate quality result while distraction will create provlems, noting that they have been appointment with the task of nation building and solving problems,” he added.
The newly established Agency of the government, which consists of 59 members, among which are the President, Surveyor-General of the Federation, Surveyor-General of each state, appointees of the President of Nigeria from four universities will ensure the registration of surveyors, as well as regulate the practice of the profession in the country.
In his remark, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Bashir Alkali said “SURCON is a successor to the defunct Surveyors Licensing Board of Nigeria, which had the charge of licensing and disciplining surveyors in Nigeria.
“However, the increase in the duties of the Board necessitated the establishment of an Agency that will undertake the regulation of the surveying profession in Nigeria with an expanded knowledge. This led to the establishment of SURCON as an Agency of the government.”
