Book: Geo-information Technology and Development: A Compendium of
Selected Papers
Author: Peter Adeniyi (PhD)
Publisher: Wura-Kay
Prints, Lagos
Year of Publication: 2009
Reviewer: Adjekpagbon Blessed
The 321-page book of 12 chapters contains the author’s
selected papers, spanning several issues on the research field. Issues of
land-use, census preparations, agricultural development and statistical
analysis, applications of remote-sensing among others, feature in the
collection which comes across as a deliberate attempt to create and establish
the scope of a relatively less known field of study.
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Prof. Peter Adeniyi |
Interestingly, Adeniyi introduced
the teaching of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information
System (GIS) into the curriculum of Geography Department, UNILAG and
served as the Director of the Laboratory for Cartography and Remote Sensing in
the university from 1980 – 1983. He also served later as Coordinator of Remote
Sensing and GIS Laboratory from 1993 to 1994. Given this background, Akin
Mabogunje, a UNILAG Professor, who wrote the book’s
foreword offers that the material “underscore the wide range of research
activities with which Professor Adeniyi has been concerned over the many years
of his university employment.”
Topics in the first section of
the book include, Land and
Land-use Planning in Nigeria; Land-use Charge Analysis Using Sequential Arial
Photography and Computer Techniques; Digital Analysis of Multi-temporal
Land Suit Data for Land-use / Land-cover Classification in Semi-arid Area of
Nigeria; Land-use/Land-cover Change Evaluation in Sokoto-Rima Basin of
North-West Nigeria Based on Archival Remote-Sensing and GIS Techniques. This
part contains four chapters. In Part Two, the book beams light on the knotty issue of census and population
estimation. The author handled the topic with focus on aerial photographic
method for estimating urban population. He also engaged the matter of using
remotely sensed data for census surveys and population estimation in developing
countries using examples from Nigeria. Mabogunje primes the reader’s taste
through his in-let into the author’s scholarship trait. He informs that Adeniyi
is largely concerned with improving the Nigerian situation. Hence, there is a
certain penchant for national questions in the topics. “Adeniyi worries a
lot about how development and
growth can come to Nigeria. More than this is conveyed in the book’s pages,” notes Mabogunje.
It is therefore, from this
perspective that the thrust of Part Three can be well appreciated. The section
which contains two chapters takes a periscope of Agricultural Land-use
Investory and Mapping in Nigeria; Application of Remote Sensing; and Using
Remotely-sensed Data for Tackling Fundamental Agricultural Problems in
Nigeria. Some of the sub themes in the part include –
Agricultural Programmes in Nigeria; Status of Remote-sensing Applications in
Nigeria; and Application of Remote-sensing and Geographic Information System
(GIS) in the Mapping and Monitoring of Agricultural Resources in North Western
Nigeria. Borrowing from Hardy (1982), the author states: “Remotely-sensed data
provide information about physical
and cultural environments with unique
and valuable characteristics. The information can be generated in unbiased
form, acquired at a known point in time; displayed accurately; geographically
referenced; prepared in real time (or nearly so) and assembled in useful,
storable format.”
He points out that given those
characteristics, several scholars such as Reining (1974); Tobler (1968); Conant
(1982); and Stem (1982) have used remotely-sensed data to identify settlements
and to revise topographic maps, such as the maps done by Moore (1982) and
Gregory and Moore (1986). Adeniyi captures the current status and challenges
facing geo-information technology adoption, application and development in the book’s fourth part, which comprises four
chapters. Themes analyzed in this part include – Some Lessons of the
Nigerian Radar Project (NIRAD); Remote Sensing, Resource Development and
Education in Africa; Issues and Strategies for Developing and Managing
Resources Information in Africa; and Geo-Spatial Information and Disaster
Management. Throwing more light on remote-sensing in this part of
the book, Adeniyi rubs in that good
use of the technology can equally help food production, general economic
employment and welfare of the African continent.
“Africa accounts for
approximately 28 per cent of the earth’s land surface. Since
land is basic for the production of the most essential resources such as food,
fibre, minerals, fuels, shelter and water, Africa has therefore been generally
claimed to be endowed with abundant resources. Yet, over 50 per cent of the
total annual revenue of many African countries is spent on the importation of
food and related items,” he writes. The Remote-sensing expert adds that there
is hardly any aspect of social development where the lack of basic resource
information has not inhibited the advancement of the continent. According to
him, “to date, most African countries do not have current and accurate
information about the number of
inhabitants they purport to plan for.” Though it dwells on a very
technical subject, the use of simple language helps the reader through
the book. Any averagely educated person
can read it and understand. The language is simple and straight devoid of
circumlocution. Adeniyi writes like a good communicator, passing across his
message without creating ambiguity with the use of complex words.
His book is a highly recommendable compendium on geo-information
technology and development in Nigeria and the African continent. It is a very
resourceful material not only for researchers but for governments and citizenry
as anyone willing to be well enlightened about his
environment can gain a lot from it.
Adeniyi who obtained his PhD in
Geography, with specialization in Remote-sensing and Geographic
Information System at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada,
(1978), is a former Vice-Chancellor of Federal University of Technology, Akure.
The Professor also had a diploma in Photo Interpretation for Geography and
Masters Degree in Agricultural Land Use from the International Institute of
Aerospace Survey and Earth Science, Enscede, The Netherlands.
END
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