>
The lawmaker representing Oyo central Senatorial District, Dr. Yunus Akintunde, has disclosed why he sponsored a bill for the upgrading of the Federal School of Surveying, Oyo, to Federal University of Geomatics.
At the first reading of the bill, titled Federal University of Geomatics, Oyo, (Establishment) Bill, 2024 (SB. 496) on Wednesday, an elated Akintunde who chairs the senate committee on environment, said that the institution, being the only surveying school in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa, deserves to be upgraded.
Among other things, the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain noted that the institution has better infrastructure than many universities in the country.
“I sponsored the bill majorly because I believe we should have moved forward than this our present stage. It has always been on my mind to upgrade this Federal School of Surveying, and others outside Oyo. There are others too but it is just the bill for upgrade of Federal School of Surveying, Oyo, that came out first. Others are coming, but I don’t want to mention them till they are listed for reading.
“Being one of its kind in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa and one that was established before the birth of someone like me, its upgrade is long overdue. In fact, it should have had campuses outside the town and state. Apart from the fact that it will better equipped, those who have passed through the institution and current students, it will save them the stress of going for further degree after the rigorous process they would have gone through. I make bold to tell you that despite not being a student or alumnus of the great institution, I have been opportune to evaluate its products and I can confirm that they don’t deserve the stress of finishing there and still going for another bachelor’s degree.
“So, I will like my colleagues, well-meaning Nigerians, practitioners as well as my constituents to join me in making this a reality,” Akintunde said.
Founded on July 1, 1908 as a Government Departmental Training Institution attached to the Colonial Survey Department in Lagos for the training of Technical Assistants, Federal School of Surveying moved from Lagos to Ibadan in 1926, and later to Oyo in 1934.
