Thirty-six staff of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) were last Friday presented with certificates after the completion of a training course on the Geographic Information System (GIS).

Making the presentation, Executive Secretary, FCDA, Engr. Sani Alhassan, said the GIS, which came through the financial assistance of a German company, CUTEC Institut GmbH, is a modern technique of processing data for use more easily with only the touch of a button.

He said GIS is the in thing in any infrastructural development, and called on the newly trained staff to make proper use of the knowledge acquired during the training, as, according to him, knowledge is useful only when it used after acquisition.

Leader of the German delegation, Engr. T. I. Onyeche, in his remarks at the occasion, said the GIS is a big challenge to FCDA engineers because with the over 8,000 square meter of land in the FCT, the processing of data cannot be done effectively without the GIS. He said without GIS, Abuja cannot be anywhere among the top 20 cities by the year 2020.

One of the trainees, Ali, said the training was quite useful as it will enable them carry out their work more efficiently, "it will aid in the billing of billable structures in the FCT and there improve the revenue generating capacity of the FCT Administration."