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Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba, has pledged his ministry’s unwavering support and cooperation with the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) to allow the agency fulfil its mandates.
While welcoming the new Director General of the space agency, Dr. Halilu Shaba and his management team during a courtesy visit to his office, Prince Agba said inter-ministerial synergy is a basic requirement to actualise the transformation agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
The ministry is happy over its partnership with the space agency especially in the implementation of the GEO-Referenced Infrastructure and Demographic Data for Development (GRID-3) project which the NASRDA is saddled with the responsibility of handling its technical aspect, added Prince Agba.
He expressed optimism that the space agency has the capacity to handle the technicality of the project to a practical end for the collective benefits of the country while promising that efforts are being made to properly fund the project with the assistance of the World Bank through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The minister congratulated the NASRDA boss on his appointment and appealed to the management staff of the agency to support Dr Shaba in his determined efforts to build on the glorious achievements of the agency.
Dr Shaba expressed believe in the NASRDA to deliver on its mandates, assuring that efforts are currently being intensified towards improving on the performance and activities of the agency in order to deliver services of best international practice.
He said one of the highpoints of the visit was to further keep the minister abreast of various activities, policies and programmes of the agency which according to him are prepared within the timeline given by the federal government for effective implementation.
He added that the agency is endowed with the intellectual capacity to effectively implement the GRID-3 project with the support of relevant stakeholders like the Ministry of Budget and National Planning.
Dr Shaba also intimated the minister with the commencement of the national boundary validation project which he said was already scheduled for the 15thMay, 2021 in partnership with the National Population Commission on the need to supply relevant data for the actualisation of the project.
NASRDA is currently talking over the management of the national database from the GRID-3 programme which works with other countries to generate, validate and use geospatial data on population, settlement, infrastructure and boundaries.
GRID-3 project combines the expertise of partners in government, United Nations, academia and the private sector to design adaptable and relevant geospatial solutions based on each countries capacity and development needs.
