MINISTER-DESIGNATE JIBRIL, FATHER OF NIGERIA'S ONLY GIS FAMILY

President Muhammadu Buhari sent the lists of the now confirmed ministers for screening without their portfolios, in what triggered a veiled reaction from the senators. However, looking at their resumes, and the direction of questioning, it was easy to assume that certain minister designates are already settled in certain ministries. One of them is Alhaji Ibrahim Jibril Usman.

The screening featured Ibrahim Usman Jibril on the first day of the exercise, with senators focusing on the issues of land administration and management in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), where the nominee has put in over 30 years working in the FCT Administration (FCTA).

Jibril was asked many questions during his round of screening which lasted over 30 minutes on the floor of the Senate, but only one had to do with issues outside of FCT land management. All other questions ranged from problems of land allocation including double allocation of plots, as well as fake land titles including Certificates of Occupancy (CsofO), to policies including resettlement of indigenes and growth of shanties and the attendant demolition exercises which have characterized successive administrations.

Jibril, who retired as a Deputy Director at the FCTA, took the Senate down memory lane spanning over 35 years of the policies on land management and administration in the capital city, as well as the legislation that established Abuja as the FCT. He also gave insights on the Land Use Act of 1978, to establish a connection with the FCT Act of 1976 on land allocation in the FCT, saying the President as head of the government of the federation, who by virtue of the provisions of the Land Use Act, holds the land in Abuja in trust for the people. He said the President, in turn, delegated the powers over the land in FCT to the minister.

The minister designate, who acknowledged the huge problem with land allocation, arising from shady deals, said double allocation of plots in the FCT has been tackled with the initiation and execution of the pioneer computerised lands management and administration through the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS), which implementation saw him as a team member during the administration of former FCT minister Nasir El'Rufai. He also said the computerized system has also taken care of the issue of fake land titles, adding that over 10,000 cases of double allocation were discovered and taken care of in 2003 when he served as secretary of a committee to computerize the cadastral zones.

On the issue of policy, the minister designate said the FCT administration has been inconsistent with policies because the last 30 years has seen the administration with a flow of policies, much of which have hardly been implemented by successive governments. He talked of a failed national integration which policy even saw the setting up of the first committee on Land Use Allocation in 1980. He also talked about the failed resettlement policies for the indigenes, saying the authorities had projected a population of only 50,000 people in Abuja upon the establishment of the area as FCT in 1967; only to discover in 1978 that a swollen up population of over 300,000 people was already on ground for resettlement, in what called for the alteration of that policy for a partial resettlement programme.

“There was then a partial resettlement programme allowing people within the FCT to remain, bringing the problem of the indigenes and non-indigenes syndrome today,” Jibril told the senators. “I believe until proper resettlement is initiated and executed; we will continue to have this problem. We either take good time to do a complete resettlement programme, or we do an integration programme; the population of indigenes will continue to grow in these places (shanties) and other people will come and reside there with them.”

He added that: “if you don't take care of the indigenes by carrying out a successful resettlement programme, shanties will continue to grow, and demolition will happen. Unless the issue of resettlement is properly addressed, you can't do without shanties.”

FATHER OF NIGERIA'S GIS FAMILY:
The senators asked Jibril these questions looking at his resume which reads that he was not only part of the execution team of AGIS, he is also managing Nigeria's second GIS project in Nasarawa State called NAGIS.

Jibril, an incorruptible technocrat earned a name in the field of GIS, having served as a member of the team on Computerization of the Cadastral and Land Registry of the FCT, which led to the establishment and implementation of Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS), by a former FCT minister, Nasir El'Rufai, who is now the Kaduna State governor.

A GIS and lands reform specialist, Jibril has worked over the years with the core of enthusiasts in computerised lands management to include the Kaduna State governor, El'Rufai, Sonny Agassi, a Nigerian-Canadian cities expert, Roland Klaus and Heiko Howey of GIS Transport, George Elzoghbi of Siraj Engineering Consultants, and Peter Ritchie, a marketing consultant.

When Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura initiated NAGIS in 2012 in the bid to reform land management as a step towards creating a twin city for Abuja, this team, which has come to be known under the nickname: “Nigeria's Only GIS Family,” was sought for both advice and execution. Jibril, known as the father of this family, became the project manager.

His moulding of the next generation of GIS leaders, using NAGIS has earned him various pet names among the young indigenous graduates he assembled at project's service centre in Mararaba. One of them, Victor Agidi, a production officer working on maps and lands titles had this to say upon hearing the news of the ministerial nomination of his boss: “we will miss a father of the GIS family at NAGIS. He trained us in everything we know in GIS. He is a moulder of character, insisting we focus on the future and remain committed to what is right. He has spoken much about being principled, and shunning corruption.”

READING FOR LEADING:
Jibril has grown in influence from reading. The collection of books in his office says it all. But his two residences in Nasarawa and Abuja have their own separate libraries, bringing his total collection to no fewer than 700.

The last book, which brings to 12, the number of he has read this year alone, is titled: Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, a New Urban WorldRobert. Robert Neuwirth, an American investigative reporter, relates in this book, the struggles and successes of some of the world’s most resourceful poor people, among the one billion urban squatters in countries like Brazil, India, Kenya and Turkey.

He has read much of the series: State of the World's Cities, authored by United Nations Human Settlements Programme, describing how cities are the home of prosperity, and the place where people find satisfaction of basic needs and access to essential public goods.

Jibril had his M.Sc. in Lands Resources (with Specialization on Land Administration), from the same university, and proceeded to obtain a certificate in Principles of GIS from the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation, (ITC), Enschede, The Netherlands in 2007. He also attended an Advance Training Program in Gavle –Sweden on Land Administration and Geographic Information, organized by the National Lands Survey of Sweden.

Written by  Tim Bernie.