Employment opportunities abound for School of Surveying graduates ― Rector

Federal School of Surveying, Oyo, is one of the oldest professional learning centres in the country. Currently, it is undergoing a revamping exercise in order to meet up the world’s standard in its production of constructive manpower in the field of surveying, geo-informatics and other allied disciplines.  In this interview with KEHINDE ADIO, the rector of the institution, Dr Dupe Nihinlola  Olayinka, speaks about the relevance of the institution to nation-building and the need to upgrade the institution to a professional university: Excerpts:

Can you have a peep into the activities of your school?

Federal School of Surveying, formerly known as the School of Surveying, came into being in July 1, 1908 in Lagos. It is a professional institute that was established to produce assistance surveyors during the colonial era. Many people in the field of Surveying and geo-informatics from different parts of African continents and other places passed through the school for certificate programmes.

The school was moved to Ibadan in 1926, and when University of Ibadan was established in 1948, it became  a department in the college, until in 1934 when it was moved down to Oyo town as an autonomous institute.

The institute was upgraded by the Act of Parliament under the Federal Ministry of Housing and  Works, to offer National Diploma, Higher National Diploma  and  Post Higher National Diploma programmes in all related surveying and geo-informatics professional courses.

Some of the courses in the school include: photolithographic, Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing and Computer Science. Others include Cartography and Geographic and Information systems.

Moreover, a new curriculum is undergoing development process for Hydrographic Surveying, a professional course to be accredited by the National Board for Technical  Education (NBTE), soon.

So, the school is ready for another accreditation, having put in place  what  would be  required for the exercise, in  terms of Human resources, teaching and research equipment, infrastructure and conducive learning environment. In a  nutshell, all our courses are fully accredited by NBTE, while new programmes are undergoing accreditation process.

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What did you meet on ground when you assumed office as Rector of the institution?

I met un kept Institution   though, with dedicated  and qualified staff who were not being paid for months. Many of  the programmes were due for reaccreditation, No  convocation was held  in the school in the last 10 years.   The campus was charaterised by deplorable infrastructure with poor student enrolment.

In view of this, my first assignment  immediately   I assumed office was to set the school’s priority right to get the school back on track. I discovered that the school is endowed with not less than  39 registered Surveyors on the campus. There is no institution in the country that can boast of such numbers.  This encouraged me to put necessary things in pace to revamp the system.

The development led  us to get accreditation for all the old courses on the campus, organized convocation for 10 years combined and sorted out money to pay the staff.

Currently, the school is undergoing renovation and reengineering process to refurbish the system.

Today, the school can boast of a standard and functional Entrepreneurial training centre where students are exposed to different skills to make them self –sufficient. More students have enrolled into the school. It gladding the heart that not less than 80 per cent of Registered Surveyors in Nigeria, dead or alive,  passed through this school.

what   assistance does the school  need  for its  advancement?

This school has been removed  from TETFUND beneficiary list. In this regard, I want to  appeal to the concerned  people in the corridor of power  in the education sector, National Assembly  and  the office of the Minister,   to help   return  Federal School of Surveying to TETFUND beneficiary list. The development will go a long way to boost the infrastructural  and human capita developments in the school.

Moreover,  this school, henceforth,   should  not be seen  as  a  Monotechnic  institution; It is a specialized  institution with a mandate to train people in Surveying courses, including Geology Geography and other allied professional  programmes  in surveying for the  country.

 How relevance is the School of Surveying in nation building and youth employment generation in the country?

Surveying /Geo-informatics  education  is the bedrock of meaningful  development, especially in a developing economy like Nigeria. I made bold to say that out of the  17 Sustainable Development Goals, 13 of them cannot thrive without  the input  from  Surveying and Geo-informatics.  Everything that will do is based on the space, and it has a lot of surveying study input to generate data on location, population for effective planning in the country. Every  state in  the country needs the services of graduates from  School of Surveying  and individual  organization, even the Federal Government. There is employment opportunities for graduates of  School of Surveying. They are even  self- sufficient.

In addition, Remote Sensing education will provide hint on how many people are we in Nigeria. Surveying and Geo-informatics  education provide useful  information for rapid development.

Also, Surveying and Geo-informatics  are  paramount  in the area of security of the nation.  For instance,  what does it take to map the whole Sambisa Forest and give useful  information about the whole forest. In this regard Federal School Surveying  can partner with the Nigerian Army to arrest Sambisa forest situation. With  adequate map, one can model and also predict the bandits’ movement  in the forest.

It is sad to note that 80 per cent  of Nigeria internal  water is not mapped. This is because not  many schools in the country  are   offering Hydrographic as a   course  In Nigeria? This is our core area in the  Federal School of Surveying.

What is your dream for this school?

My dream for the school is to become a specialized university of Surveying and Geo-informatics. We have what  it takes to run degrees programmes  in terms of human resources, teaching and research facilities. If the federal government would make TETFUND  assessable to Federal  Surveying  with the  financial support from the  alumni, as well as from the general public, the development will go a long way to turn the school around.