Pages

Monday, November 23, 2009

Real-time GPS Station Goes Live.


Lagos

Lagos Gtate Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, SAN, has declared that the state Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) which has been successfully completed will soon come up live.
GPS is a satellite-based radio navigation system, which allows users to determine their location anywhere in the world at any time of the day.
On the other hand, the CORS operates continuously from a permanent and stable location to track down dozens of GPS and Global Navigation Satellites (GNSS), receives and stores the data, removes any errors and transmits the enhanced satellite data to users in real time.
Fashola who was at a stakeholders meeting Thursday, at Alausa to ascertain the progress of the project, expressed satisfaction and confirmed the successful completion of the project.
The Managing Director of GeoQinetiq limited, the firm that handled the project, Mrs Juliet Ezechie, in an interview shortly after the meeting, said the CORS data will soon be made available to MDAs, contractors, construction companies, engineers and surveyors to enable them fix and validating exact position information in the field through out the state to an accuracy of under 1cm.
Ezechie had explained that when formally commissioned the state will blaze the trail in establishing world class, ultra modern technologies to provide a solid basis for the transformation of the state and provide the technological foundation for successful implementation of the Lagos Mega City.
The initiative, according to her, will help build a new Lagos and get the traffic moving again by tracking road congestion, road safety and improving public transportation.
She had earlier explained that the entire project started when the state governor in 2007, set up a five man advisory committee of experts headed by the former Surveyor-General of the state, who is now the Special Adviser to the Governor, Mr M.A.O Durowoju, to deliver a fully digital mapping and enterprise Geographic Information System (GIS) for the state.
The report of the advisory committee, according to Ezechie was presented to the state executive council meeting by September of same year and a technical committee under the chairmanship of Dr Femi Hamzat, the state Commissioner for Science and Technology was constituted to examine and recommend the best sustainable mapping and GIS solution for the state.

GeoQinetiq limited, a leading geophysical geospatial and logistic solution provider in the country was contracted to design, install, commissioned and train GIS and geomatics professionals from the office of the state Surveyor-General in the operation of the state's first public Continuously operating Station with a view to later creating a network of such CORS stations across the State.
The newly completed CORS system is based on Leica Geosystems (Switzerland) ultra-modern 'future proof' GRX1200GG GNSS reference station receivers along with Leica spider GPS network control software which will be incorporated into an integrated network of CORS stations deployed at strategic location across the state providing very high accuracy real time and post processed data for wide range surveying and construction applications.
The CORS network accordingly has the peculiar advantage of eliminating the need for surveyors to establish local controls or set up temporary
field reference stations at specific job sites which is both time consuming, expensive, leads to surveying errors and exposes them surveyors' equipment to risks of theft and accidental damage.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Eko For Show::Sky shows as Lagos bids U-17 tourney bye




By Tony Ubani
Lagos State, arguably the best sub-seat for the FIFA U-17 World Cup on-going in Nigeria would wind up their excellent hosting of matches at the Teslim Balogun Stadium where the two semi- finals would be played tomorrow in grand style.

Switzerland opens up the first game against Colombia at 4pm while Nigeria would bring down the roof by 7pm when they tackle Spain. And in its characteristic manner, Lagos State would show off their might when they light up even the skies with special messages that will entertain. As early as 9am, the jets would lighten the skies with their aerial manoeuvres and displaying messages.

Information from the Lagos sub-seat has it that the aircraft would continue their aerial ‘bombardment’ until afternoon when the crowd would have packed themselves for the first match of the day. That is not all. There would also be spectacular fireworks that would start from where the jets stopped.

“The might of Lagos sub- seat will be felt tomorrow because it is our own way of saying a big thank you to all the fans and Lagosians who have been most wonderful with their support for activities in Lagos State”, Sub-seat Chairman and Vice President of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Amanze Uchegbulam, confirmed.

Also, musicians like Seun Kuti, Adewale Ayuba, Ayan Birin would be on ground to entertain fans within intervals for the carnival-like show that marks the end of activities of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Lagos State.

“We are putting up an innovation that we have tagged ‘Soccertainment’ for Lagosians. It is our own way of thanking everybody and to show indeed that Lagos Own The Game. Lagosians have been tremendous in the matches in Lagos. Without being boastful, Lagos has been the centre of excellence for the U-17 World Cup”, Jaiye Opayemi, Executive Director of Wisdom Keys said as they put finishing touches to the closing shows they hope will excite fans.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Lagos State Begins Production Of Transformers For Power Distribution.














Lagos State government yesterday disclosed that it had begun the production of electric transformers at a factory sited at Iberekpo in the Badagry area of the state.

The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, his counterpart in Rural Development, Prince Lanre Balogun and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Commerce and Industry, Mrs. Sola Oworo told journalist in Alausa, that the new transformers were made of proper coil as against those made with aluminium.

Conducting reporters round the transformers in Alausa, Balogun said Elsewedy Nigeria Ltd, the organisation responsible for the products, had been able to turn out 15 transformers between December 2008 and October 2009, adding that it was purely a direct influx of foreign investment with only five percent of total equity contributed by the state government.

He said the transformers are not oil based, but dry-cell, adding that they were made with copper wire unlike the imported ones which are mainly produced with aluminum cables and less durable.

He added that the state government has visited the site and can vouch 100 percent for the quality of the material deployed while assembling the products.

The commissioner noted that the transformers would be distributed free of charge to communities that are need who will now inform officials of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria to install for them, stressing that there are plans to mass produce transformers in time for the whole of Nigeria and export them to the international community.

In her comments, Oworo said only 10 per cent of the workers are foreigners, while the remaining are Nigerians.

She added that in time, the firm would produce metres as part of effort to tackle the power needs of








Sunday, November 1, 2009

I tried so hard not to post this picture, but this is not acceptable in today's Lagos, the so called "Centre of Excellence"















It is over a month into the new school session, but it is still a sitting affair for some pupils at Aunty Ayo Girls Comprehensive Junior Secondary School in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Thursday when NEXT visited.

With a policy that requires school pupils to bring chairs and lockers for class use to school, the situation in Aunty Ayo is true of many public schools in the state. A majority of the pupils have to make do on the floor pending a time when their parents will buy the required furniture.

Aminat Yunus, a junior secondary school one (JSS1) pupil said she had passionately looked forward to secondary education, and the facilities that would come with it. According to her, receiving lectures on the floor never featured in those expectations.

She said: "It's not convenient to write on the floor at all, but that is where those of us without chairs and lockers write. I am still waiting for my own; my parents have not made them for me yet."

Adunola, another pupil of JSS1 is also eager to have her ‘own furniture', even though she, along with her friends have devised a method of writing, which she considered effective under the circumstance; they have been writing on their school-bags, placed firmly on their legs.

Ms Adunola said: "That is what we do, and it's easier that way. Another one is if you have a friend that has bought her furniture; she may invite you to join her."

Earlier in the day, a Parents Teachers Association (PTA) meeting was held to address the issue among others. According to the PTA Chairperson, Mr. Adeleye, who spoke to NEXT on the phone after the meeting, the issue featured prominently in their meeting.

He said that the Association has sent letters to the State Government in the past over the issue, without getting the desired response; except for a specification of what type of furniture to provide, and with what material.

He also added that the situation was also affected by the relocation of a satellite campus of the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) which used to hold its lectures within the premises of the secondary school. Some of the pupils benefitted from the furniture provided by LASPOTECH before it moved.

"Now, we have been told that the chairs we make for the students should be made of mahogany wood, and that it should be double, and that means it should long enough to take two students. So the names of the students (pair) will be written on the seats," said Mr. Adeleye.

He added: "We (Parents) can't continue to wait for the government and leave our children to sit on the floor; that's why the parents have to make the chairs for their children. If any parent does not do that, there is nothing else we can do; his child will be left to sit on the floor."

Earlier this year, at a press briefing marking the second anniversary of this administration, Sarah Sosan, the deputy governor had said," I don't think the standard of education is low. We need to improve on factors and we've been doing that through the rehabilitation of science laboratories, provision of libraries, putting of furniture in place, and so on. We are also aggressively putting structures in place to reduce congestion in our schools.

I am proud to say that our public schools in Lagos are wonderful. Who says that the public schools are not good enough?"

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/5475649-147/%27We_write_on_the_floor%27_.csp