The Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation (OSGoF} is an extra–ministerial, Career, Pooling and Self Accounting office supervised by the Honourable Minister of Works and Housing. In Nigeria, the Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation is the nation’s apex authority in surveying and mapping and their related matters. The Surveyor-General of the Federation (SGoF) is the Accounting Officer and Chief Executive Officer of the Office. The achievements of OSGOF during the first tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration would have been impossible without budgetary allocations and releases. The primary responsibilities of the Office are the provision of requisite geospatial information needs of the country in all ramifications for sustainable national development, the co-ordination of all Surveying and Mapping and their related activities in the country and the implementation of the survey co-ordination act of 1962 and its subsequent amendments. The staff strength of the office is Six Hundred and Ninety-Four (694) with an approved Establishment staff strength of One Thousand and Seventy Four (1,074). The Office has been restructured and expanded into fifteen (15) departments comprising fourteen (14) technical departments, three (3) service departments, nine (9) units, Eight (8) OSGoF Units in Federal ministries six (6) Zonal Directorates and Thirty- Six (36) State field offices.
Surveying and Mapping is the bed rock of any physical development of a nation and when properly harnessed could become a veritable tools for higher revenue generation, national security and development. In Nigeria, the office of Surveyor General of the Federation is the nation’s apex authority in Surveying and Mapping and their related matters. The Office is currently an extra-ministerial department under the supervision of the Federal ministry of Power, Works and Housing. The Office achieved its status via the Federal Executive Council Conclusion No. EC 17 (05) of 27th April 2005 following its upgrade. The Surveyor-General of the Federation is the Chief Executive and Accounting Officer.
The Office is responsible for undertaking vital surveys, providing maps and other geographic data that are required for the development of long-term strategies in National Defense and Security. It also generates prudent plans for the exploration, exploitation management of minerals and other natural resources; sustainable environmental protection and conservation plans and defining international and interstate boundaries of the country. Surveying and mapping products are also required to facilitate the design and location of roads, railways, power transmission lines, telecommunication lines and other infrastructures; and for the cadastral systems to support urban development and the provision of housing for the masses.