Osun govt allays residents’ fear over low altitude surveillance aircraft
By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo
Osun State government has allayed the fear of its citizens following a yellow coloured helicopter that has been flying round some parts of the state.
According to a statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government, (SSG), Prince Wole Oyebamiji, the helicopter is involved in an exercise designed for airborne geophysical survey to determine accurate mineral locations in the selected areas with state-of-the-art aeromagnetic mechanisms.
It would be recalled that the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel had few days ago, through its Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification (MinDiver) Project, announced its readiness to embark on a 16 weeks’ sensitization campaign in 19 states of the federation.
The affected states are; Osun, Ondo, Oyo, Ogun, Ekiti, Kwara, Nasarawa, Plateau, Kogi, Cross-River, Akwa-Ibom, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Taraba, Bauchi, Niger, Benue, Enugu and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The state government further disclosed that the exercise is being conducted across 112 local government areas in the 19 states which informed the need for the aircraft to fly at low altitude.
The statement implored residents to go about their lawful activities as adequate environmental safety measures have been put in place with full collaboration of the necessary security stakeholders to ensure a seamless process in the state.
“This exercise embarked upon by the Federal Government is designed to obtain airborne geophysical data which are essential documents of the National Geological Infrastructure, as they provide objective information on the spatial distribution of the geological information and tectonics,” the statement added.
