Application of Geospatial Information System to Assess the Effectiveness of the Mdg Target in Amac Metropolis-Abuja,Nigeria

摘要

This study aims to assess the effectiveness of the MDG target as it concerns, the state of education in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) metropolis-Nigeria. One of the educational challenges faced in developing countries is how to know which school to send children to. This is mainly due to lack of detailed information as to, what school offers, what type of education, and at what fee. But with Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) providing information about primary and secondary schools, Millennium Development Goals' (MDGs') vision of literacy for 15-24 year olds will be achieved. The development of geospatial database information system of primary and secondary schools for Garki and Wuse districts, Abuja, was embarked upon to provide timely, consistent and accurate information to decision makers for use in achieving this particular target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The delay in achievement of this target is not because governments in developing countries aren't putting maximum effort, but because these governments are choosing to put the cart before the horse. Sustainable literacy level cannot be achieved without an effective framework charged with the collection, storage, query, analysis and management of the relevant data. What is needed is a system that provides government with data about all educational facilities within required proximity and determines availability of the required facilities. GIS is that decision making technology, which integrates' spatially referenced data' with a problem solving environment. The method employed was to acquire both spatial and attribute data of every primary and secondary school in Garki and Wuse districts. The spatially referenced database was created using Microsoft Access 2007 and ArcGIS 9,2 software. The database was queried and the results of the queries analyzed. The results showed that 60% of the schools didn't have access to Internet. Twenty-one (21) percent had no library. Sixty-three (63) percent of schools were also found to lack Elementary Science Laboratory as stipulated in the National Policy on Education. It was also observed that, the closest distance between public schools to Area 1 and Wuse Central bus-stops, are 0.769 and 1.15 m, respectively.