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STATEMENT BY PROFESSOR ADEBAYO ADEDEJI, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF 
THE ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA (ECA) AT THE INTERNATIONAL 
SYMPOSIUM OF COMMISSION VI OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR PHOTOGRAMMETRY 
AND REMOTE SENSING (ISPRS) ASCON, BADAGRY, NIGERIA 22-26, SEPTEMBER, 1986 
Madam Chairlady, President of Commission VI (ISPRS), 
Members of the Commission Board, 
Distinguished Guests and Participants, 
Ladies and Gentlemen, 
First and foremost, let me express my sincere gratitude and deep appreciation for the invita- 
tion extended to me by the Board of Commission V! of the International Society for Photogram- 
metry and Remose Sensing (ISPRS), to address the opening session of this International Sympo- 
sium on Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing in Economic Development. | note with pleasure 
the honour bestowed upon Nigeria to host the activities of this Technical Commission, which is 
one of the seven Technical Commissions of the International Society for Photogrammetry and 
Remote Sensing. | am informed that this is the first time in the history of the Society that this 
privilege has been bestowed on an African country. 
May | say that it was indeed a timely decision on the part of the Society at its XVth ISPRS 
Congress, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1984, to entrust an African country with the 
hosting of this Technical Commission. | am sure that Nigeria, on behalf of the African member 
States of the Society, will do everything possible to justify the decision. In turn, all Working 
Groups of the Commission should spare no pains, energy and resourcefulness to foster the deve- 
lopment of international co-operation for the advancement of photogrammetry and remote 
sensing and their application, in pursuance of the laudable objectives of the Society. 
| am pleased to note that this international Symposium will, among other things, discuss the 
potentials of photogrammetry and remote sensing as tools for promoting economic and social 
development. Many developing countries of the Third World have great need for the use of these 
tools in the implementation of their development polices, plans and programmes. These tools 
are a sine qua non for economic development because the planning, exploration, exploitation 
and rational utilization of the natural endowments of these countries will, to a great extent, 
depend upon the availability of up-to-date, relevant and reliable scientific data. Most of these 
countries either suffer from the dearth of such data, quantitatively and qualitatively or "import" 
them at great costs and, more often than not, with considerable loss of time both in obtaining 
them and in putting them to use. 
As far as African countries are concerned, the development experience of the last two-and-a- 
half decades has demonstrated beyond doubt the critical importance of the urgency of achieving 
rapid technological capability if overall development objectives and goals are to be attained. The 
fact that Africa has been facing a worsening and rapidly deteriorating economic and social crisis 
since the mid-1970s is well-known. Regrettable as it is, also well known is the fact that by 1980, 
the average African's standard of living was worse off than he was ten years earlier. And since 
then, his social and economic situation has become aggravated. 
  
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