Survey and Mapping Unit is a Technical Unit under the office of the Permanent Secretary and headed by Resident Surveyor from the Office of Surveyor-General of the Federation (OSGOF).

The Unit is saddled with the statutory function of providing requisite Geospatial information needs of the Ministry for sustainable development and informed decision making as well as the co-ordination of all surveying and mapping activities in the Niger Delta Region.

This is as entrenched in the second schedule Part II, Section 4, item K paragraph 2 of the 1999 constitution as amended.

Function of the Unit


• Provision of perimeter survey plans for Exchange of Letters for appropriate legal documentation and publication of government acquired lands for MNDA projects in official gazettes.
• Serving as expert witness in adjudication and litigations on land matters.
• Keeping in safe custody all survey and mapping records of the MNDA.
• Acquisition and use of Topographic data which facilitates designs for housing, infrastructure, sustainable flood control and other physical developments.
• Production of Thematic (suitability) maps for road, borehole locations, right of way, telecommunication-masts, etc.
• Preparation of Cadastral plans which includes perimeter, layout, as-built with detail survey and title deed plans.

Housing Department:Oversees the provision of housing units in different communities in the Niger Delta Region. The Survey and Mapping Unit is to provide the initial parameters that the Housing Unit has to work on from the time of land acquisition to preparation of title deed plans.


• Perimeter survey plan is for proper delimitation and demarcation. It gives the Housing Department the land area at their disposal. Layout survey plan allows for precise number of parcellated lots per housing estate.
• As-Built with detail survey is carried out after the construction of the housing units. It confirms the actual location of completed structure, its attending variations and other improvements such as soak-away pits, septic tanks, etc.
• Layout survey plan allows for precise number of parcellated lots per housing estate.
• Lastly, is the production of title deed plan for an allotee.

Economic Empowerment Department:is in charge of the establishment of agro-allied industries such as oil-processing plants, fishery, pig-farming and other cottage factories.


• Provision of Perimeter with Detail Survey plan of the various cottage factories established by this Department.
• Inventory mapping of such projects within a State or LGA readily provides a visual representation of same.

Infrastructure Department:is into road construction, electrification, boreholes drilling and construction of jetties. Topographical data of area of interest is required for all engineering works.


• Road Construction: the topographical data informs the engineer of available options as per the configuration of the land through which the road is to travel. It serves as base map to prevent road failures in the area of surface erosion, plugged culverts, poor placement of side cast materials or running roads through mid-slope locations.
• The Setting-Out Survey in the area of alignments, curves, cut & fill, etc.
• Electrification: Route Survey is carried out in marking out accurate nodal points and intervals in order to maintain required horizontality and inter-visibility for the electric poles.
• Jetty Construction: Perimeter with Detail Survey plan is required but, in some cases, bathymetric survey is observed to determine the stability and depth of abutting continental shelf along where the jetty shall be constructed.

Community Development & Education Department:is into vocational training as well as equipping schools and primary health centres with relevant materials such as furniture and laboratories in the different communities in Niger Delta Region. Many of these are non- physical projects.


• Generation of Choropleth Maps from the primary data of the affected communities.

Environmental Management Department:is into flood risk management, contaminated land management and environmental screening. Survey and Mapping Unit provides the relevant suitability (thematic) maps as regards the task at hand.


• Flood hazard/risk management: Topographic survey data is required for proper landscaping and sustainable flood control. The topographic surveying enables to assess the level of threat posed to existing or proposed building by flooding.
• Flood risk susceptibility map is generated from the integration of primary data (the topographic survey) and other secondary data (eg. soil types, prevailing weather elements such as rainfall – volume and frequency) in a GIS environment. The susceptibility map informs the environmentalist on the susceptibility of the land to denudation. This map helps to prevent loss of properties, assets and life caused by floods.