By Ijeoma Ndubisi
Abuja – Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, the Minister for Science and Technology, on Tuesday said government was working on delivering sustainable change and diversification of economy to the public through scientific and technological researches.
Onu made this known in Abuja at the launch of the Nigerian Building and Roads Research Institute’s (NBRRI) Sub-grade Soil Atlas of the country.
NBRRI’s launching of the first edition of sub-grade soil atlas is aimed at ensuring that data for soil samples are provided for solid road and housing constructions across the country.
The minister said that the Federal Government was dedicated to ensuring that a solid foundation was built for technology take off in the country.
“No nation on the planet has ever become great without science and technology; and for the greatness of Nigeria to be achieved, we must attach a lot of importance to the role of science and technology to nation building.
“Today’s event is historic and symbolic in a manner; the thrust of this event, which is the launch of the first edition of the sub-graded soil atlas of Nigeria, is very important.
“The Federal Ministry of Science and Technology (FMST) more than ever before has shown that it will not rest in its resolve to utilise science, technology and innovation to defeat poverty, create jobs, strengthen the naira, reawaken our national pride and stimulate growth in our economy.
“We have lost a lot of lives due to collapse of buildings, failure on our roads because the necessary data were not available when those roads were designed.
“This administration is determined to change Nigeria, and the change that this administration is working on is change that is sustainable; science and technology through research and innovation will guarantee this change,” Onu said.
The minister said that the atlas would aid road planners, designers and contractors to obtain prior insight of the types of sub-grade soil.
He noted that he would recommend the atlas to his colleagues for use in their ministries.
The minister added that the atlas would be kept for use at the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, both at their zonal and state offices.
Onu said that there was no need depending on data generated by other countries for road and housing construction within the country.
He, however, urged stakeholders to rededicate themselves to nation building, adding that it would engender great development.
Earlier in his remarks, the Director General of NBRRI, Mr Danladi Matawal said that the project, which began in 1983, witnessed a lot of challenges but thrived.
Matawal pointed out that it was important to carry out the research for the atlas, adding that every manmade project had foundation in the soil.
“We will better appreciate this work if we know that every manmade project, except rockets in space have their foundation inside the soil.
“These soils, apart from being used in remoulded states as basic construction materials, must also take all loads without undue stress that could lead to failure through settlement or catastrophic collapsedue to lack of sufficient bearing capacity.
“A general knowledge of soil types and classification is paramount to the development of the country,” he said.
He said that the zoning of soils was done using Unified Soil Classification System (USCS) based on precision tests.
Matawal said that the work had been registered with relevant authorities for protection of copyrights but the digitised format of the maps were being protected.
“Even though this work has been registered with the relevant authorities for protection of copyrights, nonetheless the digitised format of the maps is being protected.
“This is because with the software, ArcGis10.4, it is possible to query the soil and generate the quantitative values of measures soil properties require for preliminary decision making,” he said.
The DG said that the institute would continue with some laboratory works and spot checks in some places that were mandated to launch the atlas to avoid losing already generated data.
He lauded the staff of the institute that contributed in making the project a success and a minute silence was observed for staff members that lost their lives in the course of the job.
Mrs Belema Wakama, THE Permanent Secretary, FMST, lauded NBRRI for providing a work tool to provide solutions to the nation’s infrastructural problems.
She said that the utilisation of the atlas would result in the reduction in the cost of design, construction of highways and other engineering infrastructure as bedrock of the nation’s developmental aspirations.
Wakama added that locally generated research and development outputs should be embraced if the country wished to be among the economies of the world by 2020.
