The Lagos State government has announced that its digital mapping and Geographic Information System (GIS) project has reached 75 percent completion.

This was stated on Wednesday at his Lagos House, Alausa office, by Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, during the second stakeholder’s forum on the project.

The governor said, “this is an infrastructure which will determine how efficiently we can clear refuse and recycle them in the state, provide good roads and water, and make us more responsive to the people’s general needs as a government.

“The road to where we have come today is a continuation from the past administration. What we are doing today, is to mark the beginning of the final step of this project,” he said.

In his address, the commissioner for Science and Technology, Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, said that the use of GIS will revolutionise the process of data acquisition, processing, storage dissemination and use of the GIS in digital format for planning and decision making.

“The Lagos State government commenced the comprehensive digital survey and mapping of the whole State which will result in the establishment of enterprise GIS, to provide various developmental activities in both the rural areas and other major towns in the state,” he said.

Mr. Hamzat also stated that the state government is putting in place, a state geo-information policy as well as establishing a Lagos enterprise GIS database backed by a policy which, he said, will eliminate most of the problems experienced by geo-information producers and users in the state.

“Let me point out that an efficient GIS and the associated state policy backed by the enactment of some necessary laws is vital for sustainable development of the state. This draft policy is being circulated today for input and comments for all stakeholders,” he added.

The commissioner stated that 310 civil servants have been trained on the technology as 50 percent of the data processing will be done locally.

Monsurudeen Durowoju, the special adviser to the governor on mapping and GIS, in his welcome address, said that the success of the project so far has been as a result of the governor’s determination and the challenge given to him and other stakeholders in the industry on the need for the mapping and the establishment of the GIS in the state.

“Today’s presentation of 75 percent level of accomplishment across board on all the six modules of this project is a testimony to the fact that God, indeed has answered our prayers,” he stated.

The governor also added that, with the technology, people in Lagos will be located wherever they are, for government to know their problems and plan well to proffer solutions that would be tailored to their peculiar needs.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/5423386-147/story.csp

Hopefully the project is completed and actually works.

**Awaits Fashola butt-lickers**

This people screaming they have never seen development is it not your right to get this level of development.
Due to the long suffering most minds have been wopped to scream at every little thing they see.
You people should stop screaming and let the chap work or have you people forgotten the Nigeran mentality praise do go to the head.
I trust my pips they know how to spoil a good thing.
Big up and stay calm.

ElRazur:

**Awaits Fashola butt-lickers**

What kind of statement is this. Although one will argue it is the right of citzen to have access to an enabling environment but unfortunately it is not the case in Nigeria so when a leader is identified doing the right time in the Nigerian context that man or woman needs to be celebrated and hope the servant leader attitude spreads all over the country.

While applauding this great effort of Fashola’s administration in implementing a GIS solution at a State level, I am however not convinced that there is an effective business plan on ground to run the project as a professional and profitable business entity without the need to come back to the govt for more operational fund in the next 7years!

There is very little information on how the general public can have access to the data. How much will it cost, how is it priced anyway? The project is already showing classic symptoms of failure judging by previous failed GIS projects e.g. PIE. If the govt does not come up with the business case for it, i can predict that the project will undergo a natural death in the next 10years or another administration will need to invest over N3billion again to start a fresh project.

To start with, does the project have even an interactive website like that of Google map where people can zoom in/out, do a search & find, pan, and generally play with the data?. I am not talking about pasting some nasty or dirty jpeg screen shots of street map in Arcview!!!!
By the way, who is responsible for managing the project as a profitable business entity? Entrusting this N3billion babe to the Lagos State survey will be a great disaster!!. It will simply go the way of previous failed GIS projects and we’ll be back to square one.

I have no doubt that the project will meet international standards in terms of positional accuracy and completeness judging by the calibre of map experts involved, I just wish the state govt will also invite world-class reputable business consulting companies like KPMG, Accenture, etc to advice the government on how to market the project and turn it into a huge commercial success. This perhaps explains why mapping agencies like Ordnance Survey of UK had existed for the last 220years.