The Managing Director and Chief Executive, Federal Housing Authority Hon Oyetunde Ojo, Thursday 26th September 2024 unveiled the Authority’s Drone during a One Say Workshop on "Location Matters".

In his remarks during the event, Hon Ojo noted that the acquisition of the DGI Matrix 350 RTK Drone was a further step of his management in repositioning the operations of FHA.

The Chief Executive recalled how his Executive Management Team had found It unacceptable for FHA to operate analogue without the necessary basic tools expected of an agency of its status, in the last 50 years of its establishment.

He attributed the lack of accurate data in the Authority to lack of such needed tools of work. He said it is unacceptable for the agency to operate without the precise knowledge of all its land boundaries and accurate number of ⁹ its houses, a situation that encourages encroachment on the Authority’s land and colossal loss of revenue.

Hon Ojo gave the assurance that with the acquisition of this high-profile Drone, the Authority can be precise in all its operations ranging from planning, construction to marketing.

According the FHA Chief Executive, "with the operation of the Drone, FHA stands in a better position to know the exact number of houses in all our estates and ww will now be able to project on the revenue accruable to us".

Continuing, he said,..."apart from making our operations seamless and accurate, the use of this Drone will engender standard best practices in our work"

Hon Ojo noted that with the digitalisation of the Authority’s operation and the acquisition of the Drone, Federal Housing Authority is strongly moving on the journey of self-rediscovery.

The MD who stated that more hands would be trained on handling the equipment, was full of praises for staff whose collective efforts he said helped i. turning the agency around.

While pledging continued good leadership from the Executive Management Team, he admonished staff to remain focused and work harder for the growth of the Authority.

The CEO was emphatic on the need for the Management staff to mentor the younger staff by engaging them. "It is only through this that FHA would survive the looming brain drain and succession crisis, through retirements", he added.

Earlier on, Surv. Winston Ayeni, a former Registrar of the Surveyor Regulation Council of Nigeria (SURCON), during a lecture titled Location Matters, had applauded Management for acquiring the Drone. Surv. Ayeni noted that FHA is the 3rd government agency to acquire such a calibre of Drone in the country.

Speaking on Optimising Process and Procedures for Performance Enhancement, Ayeni was unequivocal on the fact that Location, matters in every human endeavour including the built industry.

He noted that the introduction of the Drone in FHA'S operations would affect all its sphere of operations, ranging from planning, construction/Engineering, Marketing and Urban renewal.

DGI Matrix 350 RTK Drone has the capacity to cover a distance of 20 kilometres and can go beyond a height of 120 meters. It is also equipped with a high-resolution camera for both picture and video capabilities, can fly for about 55 minutes during which it can cover about 120 hectares of land.

Equipped with Lidar sensor that can make it see through vegetation, the Drone has the ability to come back to base by itself when the battery gets very low and is fitted with Optical Avoidance mechanism that makes it not to collide with other objects.