By Palma Ileye
In continued efforts to boost the nation’s economy and achieve diversification goals, the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, NGSA, has concluded its Mineral Clinic to promote available minerals in the country, sensitise stakeholders and the public on the goals scored in area of geosciences data generation as well as ensuring that they were digested by investors.
Speaking yesterday at the event tagged “NGSA Mineral Clinic: Mineral Promotion, Sensitisation and Dissemination”, held at its Headquarters in Abuja, the Director-General, NGSA, Dr Abdulrazaq Garba, said that the aim of the clinic was to encourage Nigerians to take advantage of the investment opportunities offered by the geosciences data generation.
Garba noted that the programme was a milestone of the agency’s commitment to mineral promotion, sensitisation, and dissemination which were in line with the present administration’s agenda adding that the NGSA would go the extra mile to ensure that geoscience information on Nigeria’s mineral resources is disseminated to the public for investment purposes.
According to him, the aim of the mineral clinics was to expose investors, academia, students and stakeholders, through sensitisation and dissemination of geoscientific information on various solid mineral deposits in the country as well as respond to inquiries from the public explaining that more wealth and jobs can be created if investors take advantage of the data.
He said, “The mineral clinic is like an Open Day. In our effort to make available geosciences on a continuous basis, we will present three recent publications to the public. These publications are Phosphate Resources of Nigeria, Evaluation of Brine along the Benue Trough and Assessment of graphite Occurrences in Saulawa Village, Birnin Gwari, Kaduna State, Northwest.
“Some of these projects include; Gold in She and Kafin-Koro (Niger State), Gwagwalada and Environs (FCT) and Uke (Nasarawa State); Lead/Zinc (Ebonyi State); Kaolin (Ekiti and Kwara States); Phosphate (Sokoto State); Bitumen (Ondo State); Copper in Akiri and Azara and environs (Nasarawa State); Tin and REE in Wamba area (Nasarawa State) and Katsina-Ala and environs (Benue State).
“This mega/grand finale mineral clinic of NGSA after successful outing in the six geopolitical zones of the country. Today’s event has open yet another chapter and a milestone of my commitment to mineral promotion, sensitization and dissemination which is in line with the present administration’s diversification agenda of the country from oil base to solid minerals and also in tune with the Economic Recovery Growth Plan.
“The data generated by NGSA prompted the Agency to re-organized the mineral clinics in the six geopolitical zones which was a huge success. In the zones, over 400 hundred potential investors attended the mineral clinics and over 100 samples of rocks and minerals were tested with Hand-Held XRF free of charge. We are also making plans to extend such gestures to all the States of the Federation. This we believe will spur the desired goal in creating awareness, sensitization and dissemination of geoscientific data to the lowest level.
The Director-General said that the agency would be more fulfilled, when people deployed the generated geosciences data available for economic transformation of the country saying that one of the agency’s mandate was to generate geoscience data for wealth creation and national development.
He explained, “To achieve this, the over 100-year-old exploration agency stepped up exploration and assessment of projects in greenfield and brownfield, using a unified sampling and data capturing system in line with international best practices.
“In the zones, over 400 potential investors attended the mineral clinic and over 100 samples of rocks and minerals were tested with Hand-Held XRF free of charge. We are also making plans to extend such gestures to all states in the country.
This, we believe, will spur the desired goal in creating awareness, sensitisation and dissemination of geoscientific data to the lowest level.
“The success story of NGSA today was achieved by a clear, well-defined and articulate approach which entails proper planning, exploration, evaluation and management of these resources. In line with that and to improve productivity, NGSA has procured spectroradiometers and Hand-held XRF spectrometers. This equipment is useful during exploration as it allows for on-the-spot test of rocks and minerals which serve as a guide in the field. All these equipment is on display today for the public.”
Garba said that the antecedent results were amazing because reliable geoscience data in metallic and industrial mineral has been generated and spurred the desired investment into the sector.
He said that to further generate information and get a better understanding on the systems and environments of mineralization and ages of the Nigerian rocks, the Agency has embarked on dating the rocks of the entire country by competent professionals and staff of NGSA. Adding that samples have been collected from the northwest and parts of north central Nigeria and analyzed. This project is at an advanced stage.
On capacity building, the DG said that NGSA was training its staff across board both locally and international to enhance its input and output.
“For instance, some staff are currently on training at Regional Center for Aerospace Surveys, RECTAS, in Ile-Ife on digitization, interpretations and modelling of geosciences maps to improve our data output. In a similar vain, another team of NGSA staff from NGSA Research Laboratory in Kaduna are undergoing training in south Africa on assaying. This we believe will translate into quality analysis of our samples in the laboratory. However, we will continue to strengthen the capacity of staff,” he added.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Oluwatoyin Akinlade, represented by the Director, Special Duties of the Ministry, Mrs Comfort Kabirwa, said that the mineral clinic was designed to provide a veritable opportunity for stakeholders to interact and be better informed on mineral.
Akinlade noted that the development of the sector was very important to the growth of the nation’s economy stating that the aim of the Mineral Clinic was not designated by chance but rather aimed to diagnose and treat pertinent issues that affect the Minerals and Metal sector in Nigeria such as dearth of geosciences data, high cost of exploration activities among others.
She stated that though the sector was faced with many challenges especially funding, but through the NGSA, these has not deterred the Agency and sector from making appreciable progress on many fronts also commending the Agency on success recorded under the National Integrated Mineral Exploration Project, NIMEP, which has provided the much bankable geosciences data for use by investors. Adding that NIMEP has been a huge success story in the development of the sector nation’s economy.
“I am therefore very optimistic that at the end of the event, we will all be better informed about mineral in the country and this should lead to better economic decisions for mutual benefit of all,” she said.
The Permanent Secretary also stated that better information about the available Minerals in Nigeria would lead to better economic decisions for mutual benefits of all.
Also Mr Auwal Bununu of the Nigeria Association of Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, NACCIMA, mining group, said that the geosciences data would help to provide necessary information to the public on mineral activities.
Bununu appreciated the agency for the success of the Mineral Clinic, adding that the NGSA should continue to make steady progress in facilitating its vision of transforming the sector for industrial growth and economic surplus.
On his part, the Acting President, Miners Association of Nigeria, MAN, Alhaji Musa Mohammed, said that the association would continue to work with the agency to achieve its objectives.
Mohammed said that the collaboration would strengthen the sector and offer better understanding of the sector, through exchange of ideas and knowledge.
