By Emmanuel Elebeke, Abuja

The Federal Government says it will deploy and utilise geospatial data to drive its development efforts in Nigeria.

The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Sen. Atiku Bagudu stated this at the Geospatial Ecosystem Roundtable meeting held in Abuja.

To maximize the usage, he said the GRID3 needs to be well streamlined and coordinated for synergy among key Stakeholders in the sector, hence the convening of the roundtable meeting. 

Bagudu, who emphasized the importance of the technology, said the operationalization of the Nigeria Geo-Referenced Infrastructure and Demographic Data (GRID3) for development planning and policy decision-making is now needed more than ever before.

According to him, the GRID3 when deployed is expected to improve welfare, and security of lives and property in Nigeria.

“This meeting is crucial to the current administration’s Renewed Hope agenda, which aims to improve social welfare inclusion and security in the country.

“As you are all aware, the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning plays a critical role in mainstreaming and coordinating the Geo-Referenced Infrastructure and Demographic Data for Development into national projects and programs, with the hope of being adopted at the sub-national level as well. 

“The use of geospatial technology for planning and implementation is essential for effectively delivering our national development aspirations, especially in terms of equitable distribution of infrastructure, 

education, security, and health services, taking into consideration population demography, including gender and other vulnerabilities,” he said.

“It has become imperative to work in the spirit of partnership and pragmatism to make the right 

choices towards improving lives in a sustainable way. 

“The use of geospatial data is vital and central to our developmental efforts in Nigeria, and it needs to be well streamlined and coordinated for synergy.”

“Strengthening the policy framework for synergy and  collaboration in the geospatial ecosystem, as well as identifying relevant use cases for geospatial data in line with the government’s agenda, is of utmost importance,” he added.

In his remarks, the GRID3 Nigeria Country Representative, Nazir Haliru said the meeting was convened by the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning to discuss and chat a way of how Government can use Geospacial data in Nigeria, in order to address numerous challenges in most of the critical sectors such as health, education, agriculture, finance and other relevant sectors of the economy.