By Mary Osarumwense Ayobahan
As part of efforts to deepen the knowledge and use of technology by civil and public servants, the State government through the Edo State Flood Erosion Watershed Management Agency (FEWMA) in collaboration with K.E.P. Kunni Energy has commenced an 8-day Drone training for the workers across the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies in the State.
The training which started on the 28th of November, 2022, at the John Odigie Oyegun Public Service Academy (JOOPSA) was declared open by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Sustainability, Mr Joel Edionwe.
In his welcome address, Edionwe stated: “The essence of public/civil service is to render services to the people and those who are to deliver these services need to build capacity, hence this training.”
He urged the participants to make the best of the training as it is a lifetime opportunity, adding, “You will be making the Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, and your respective Ministries, Departments and Agencies proud, if you will make the best of this training. It is a lifetime opportunity and the only way we can justify this is to beat our chest at the end of this training session that it was worthwhile”.
Edionwe lauded the Governor, the major driver of the project, and the Chief Executive Officer of FEWMA, for the initiative.
The organizer of the training and Chief Executive Officer of FEWMA, Dr Tom Obaseki, while elaborating on the essence of the training said, “Before now we had a system of building infrastructure based on the rule of thumb which in most cases involved a redo, thereby use of more resources.
“But with this investment in drones, getting information will be faster and we will be able to develop and build a robust infrastructure to tackle environmental challenges that will last forever.
“Drones give us the ability to be able to reach, collect and collate information faster and with the advancement today, we will be able to use the data in creating our designs. Drones have multi-sectoral applications in medicine, survey and agriculture security amongst others.”
He urged the participants to take the training seriously and focus more on the use of drones in the collection, processing and applications of data in their fields and departments. He added that Edo State is the first to organize the training in Nigeria.
During an interview with the CEO of K.E.P. Kunini Energy Co. Ltd, Elison Christopher Kunini, applauded the State Government for investing in world-class drone technology which will reflect in building the best professionals in their fields that will benefit the entire state.
He further said: “I would like to stress that there is no drone technology anywhere in Nigeria that has close to half of what Edo State government has when it comes to engineering, forest, the survey of flow, accumulation and effect of water application technology.
Also, in an interview with one of the participants, Justus Aidenagbon, a Natural Resources Officer, Edo FEWMA, said: “This training has been so enlightening, opening us to the introduction and principles of flying drones and how important drones can be to the activities of the agency and some other agencies that have to use drones. We have been introduced to the technology system and operations patterns and possible results that can be gotten with the use of drones.
“This is a wonderful initiative and I encourage it to be continued for capacity building of both state and non-state actors. It is a welcome development.”
