Francesca Odimgbe
Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu has said that the state is strengthening the process that will further simplify urban planning through electronic Geographic Information System (e-GIS).
Sanwo-Olu stated this on Tuesday when he opened the advanced record storage facility during a guided inspection and walkthrough of the state’s geospatial infrastructure to mark the maiden GIS Day 2026.
The Land Archive was designed to serve as a bank housing and securing all hardcopy land documents. The project construction started last year.
With the completion of the project, Lagos now has the largest land information storage facility in West Africa, featuring hard and electronic data storage systems.
Sanwo-Olu took a guided tour of the facility in company of members of the State cabinet and stakeholders in the land management department.
The Governor also visited other departments of the eGIS Office where newly developed systems and technology were demonstrated to show how spatial information could be turned into practical tools for land administration, planning, infrastructure, monitoring and decision making in the state.
Some of the departments toured included Lagos State Physical Planning and Automation department, Survey Information Centre, GIS Centre and Office of the Surveyor-General of the state.
Sanwo-Olu said: “Lagos is a city of extraordinary scale, complexity and one that undergoes constant change. To understand and manage this territory, plan its infrastructure and respond effectively to the needs of its people, we must be able to understand the state not only through what we see, but through the information that tells us where things are, how they connect and how they change. This is the value of geospatial information.”
Special Adviser to the Governor on eGIS and Urban Development, Dr. Olajide Babatunde, said the GIS Day provided an opportunity for the state to celebrate the progress made in setting up geospatial capabilities and recognise the institution driving the innovation.
Lagos, he noted, started to build the capability in 2016, launching stages of processes to achieve its current e-GIS capability. He said the technology had strengthened the way spatial information was collected, organised and used across government.
Babatunde said: “The institutionalisation of LAGIS represents an important step in bringing this work together and establishing a stronger framework for the way Lagos creates, manages and uses spatial information.