NACETEM STAFF COMPLETES FELLOWSHIP IN ITALY

A research officer with NACETEM, Mr. Maruf Sanni, recently completed a fellowship programme at the International Centre for High Science and Technology of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (ICS-UNIDO) in Italy. The fellowship programme which took place between April and December, 2011 allowed him to participate in a project titled, Sustainable Industrial Development: GIS for Mapping Quality Infrastructure and Industrial Competitiveness in the Economic Communities of West Africa States/West African Economic and Monetary Union (ECOWAS/UEMOA) Region.
Mr. Sanni and other research fellows from ECOWAS went through an intensive training on the fundamentals of Geographic Information System (GIS), which included using GIS for quality infrastructure mapping. The group undertook a GIS project which included mapping geothermal resources in the East African region and Mapping renewable energy resources in the ECOWAS region. Spatial and non-spatial data were collected on roads, railway lines, high power voltage lines, water bodies, rivers, land use, land cover, digital elevation model, administrative areas, population, altitude, etc. Socio-economic data such as agricultural products, arable land, agricultural machinery (number of tractors), forest area, agricultural irrigated lands, cereal yield, goods imports, service imports, foreign direct investment, royalty, license fees and receipts, list of domestic companies, commitments of major developmental agencies (such as World Bank), electricity production from various sources, fossil fuel consumption, CO2 emission, population density, cost to export, telephone lines, mobile subscription, secure internet servers, internet users, literacy rate, school enrolment, public spending on education were also gathered during the project.
Mr. Sanni also had the opportunity to be one of the trainers at an ICS-UNIDO organized training programme on the use of GIS to Map Quality Infrastructures and Services at Country Level in the ECOWAS region which took place in Praia, Cape Verde. The aim of the event was to train junior experts on the use of innovative technologies and advanced tools such as GIS to assess energy resources, map geographically related information and track & trace products to ensure quality services at country level in the ECOWAS region.

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