House of Representatives has lamented the use of N1 billion by the Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation for the mapping of two states – Anambra and Ebonyi under the 2018 budget.
The House Committee on Power, Works and Housing gave this indication Tuesday at the budget defence by the Office of Surveyor General of the Federation at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja, saying: “There is nowhere in the world where mapping design is this high”.
Members of the Committee led by Toby Okechukwu (Enugu PDP) faulted the breakdown of N324 million used for Anambra LGAs, N484 million for Anambra water and river bodies as well as mapping of Ebonyi South Senatorial zone for N484 million.
Members also queried the increment in the Agency personnel from 2017 to 2018, and asked the office to provide the details of employment within the period as well as N1.2 billion approved for ground digging in 2018, which was increased to N2.4 billion in 2019 budget.
Ebisintel Awudu, Surveyor General of the Federation in his response, told the Committee that the office was responsible for mapping of every state for the period of five years at least.
Justifying staff increment, Awudu said the office got approval to employ engineers from level 8 to 10, adding that, the Federal Civil Service Commission has been employing staff for the office amounting to 130 Surveyors.
“I wrote for 12 Surveyors which should come from the states that have international boundaries. The employment of level 12 to 14 Surveyors is on going in the office,” he said.
Earlier, while presenting the N6.672 billion 2019 budget, the Surveyor General said the personnel cost for 2019 budget is N844.1 million with overhead cost of N225 million while the capital cost is N5.6 billion.
He further stated that the appropriation for the office in the 2018 budget was N8.15bn, adding that N3.3 billion was released to the office as the office he said utilised N3.3 billion.
