>
In a bid to equip surveyors in Oyo State with modern tools needed to compete favorably with their counterparts across the globe, the state branch of the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS) on Tuesday held a mandatory continuous professional development training for no fewer than 250 practitioners.
Among the technologies taught at the training was the Continuous Operating Reverence System (CORS) station which Prince Aderemi Kobiowu, the chairman of Oyo NIS described as a new technology in the field of surveying.
Speaking during the training, Kobiowu said: “The lecture that is going on is mainly on CORS station and when we say CORS station, it is a control. We have been having different controls but we now observed that most of these controls are uprooted.
“Now, in Oyo state we are going to have a good platform in such a way that if all of us are connected to a particular station, our work will be easy. Issues like overlapping will not occur again and we will be having good jobs. Even the quacks who don’t have access to these stations will be forced to meet the registered surveyors.
“The first benefit is that we will be having a good surveys. Two, on the aspect of the government when it is established, mapping of the whole state will be easy. We want to map any area, it will be easy. A CORS station has covered about 70km. If it is established here, and you are in Oyo, you can connect to it. If you are in Iseyin, you can connect to it.
“We are going to have one in Ibadan, one in Saki and one around Ogbomoso to take care of the whole state. So that anywhere in Oyo state you can connect to any CORS station. It is of benefit to the general public and the government.
According to a lecturer from the Federal School of Surveying, Oyo, Surveyor Felix Ola, CORS as a technology will give decision makers real data. “This will make the public have confidence in our work. It will bring development to the state,” he said.
Chairman of the planning committee, Surveyor Ibrahim Busari while speaking said that the need to tackle some of the challenges facing Surveyors in the state made the NIS to organise the program.
Busari, a member of the Federal Housing Authority as well as the Chairman committee on the actualization of CORS, said the training also aims to eradicate some of the challenfes of the profession.
On CORS, he said: “It is a new development. We will have a station that will not be tampered with. It will help us to get accurate information. As you are on the spot you will get the information.
“We want to eradicate sharp practices. If you practice, you have to go to the school, get certificates, take surveying examinations. This is what we want to achieve. We want to tackle a situation where sub standard equipment would be used for surveying”.
The Chairman, Association of Private Practising Surveyors (APPS) Surveyor Oguntade Ademola in his remark called for synergy between the practitioners and the office of the Surveyor General.
At the event were the Surveyor General in the state, who was represented by Surveyor Soji Adeoye, former Surveyor General, Surveyor Isaac Akintola and Surveyor Aiki- Raji among others.