Expert says  dependence on surveyed marine environment enhances safety

The Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Hydrographic Society (NHS), Surveyor Olumide Omotosho, has said that security and safety of the nation’s territorial waters depends on a well surveyed marine environment.

He warned against the inadequate practice of hydrographic operations in Nigeria.

Omotosho added that the nation’s security and safety could depend on a well surveyed marine environment especially during a war outbreak.

He also hinted that aside the problem of security and safety, the economic benefit of hydrographic industry is very huge.

The hydrographer further noted that the hydrographic sector also has the potential of creating thousands of job opportunities that could absorb the jobless youths in the country.

Omotosho, who is  also the Principal Manager, Hydrography and Dredging, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), pointed out that the practice of Hydrography in Nigeria is still at its lowest ebb, which doesn’t augur well for the nation.

He also noted that it’s only  few organisations that are currently offering hydrographic services in Nigeria.

Omotosho, however, stated that the low practice of hydrographic science was responsible for the loss of Admiral Joe Abulu in an election into the International Hydrographic Organisation in Monaco Spain four years back.

“It is obvious, going by what I said that we are still not a serious player in the hydrographic realm.

“Things have improved a bit and I will tell you that there are different collaborations in different areas.

“The hydrographer of the Nigerian Navy as at today is the Chairman of the East Atlantic Hydrographic Commissioner,” Omotosho said.

He, therefore, advised that a fund be set up towards financing the science of hydrography in the country.

“The potential and the economic benefits that can be derived from the practice of  hydrography are enormous and I will take one after the other.

“You can use hydrography for navigation, you can use it for marine infrastructural development like developing a new port, again you can use it for coastal zone management, hydrography is the bedrock for any thing in marine.

“You can use it for marine environmental protection programme, pollution control, oil and gas exploration and exploitation through the use of geo-physical survey.

“Hydrography is also used for tourism, it is good for national security, you need to know the under water characteristics to be able to plan a marine warfare.

“To do your marine warfare, you need to know the under water surface and here hydrography meteorology comes to play, you need to know what the environment looks like, you need to know the current, you need to know the wind direction, you need to know a couple of things within the marine environmental area even the sound velocity, you need to know it. All these are for national defence and security.

“Ultimately, you need to have a research and development aspect of hydrography that gives you data so that you can chart the waters accordingly.

“With the new technology in hydrography, you can see the breeding ground of fishes, because the technology is like a camera now. You will see the breeding ground of fishes and you take that to the national resort and you isolate it and begin to breed fishes from there and plan accordingly,” he said.

On research and development, Omotosho maintained that every maritime nation has to predict the tide and added that such nations also need to be able to detect if tsunami can happen in Nigeria.

According to him; “you need to create a benchmark to monitor your sea level rise, you need to research to know”.