The federal government has received geosciences research reports from 12 tertiary institutions to improve mining and attract more investment into the sector in Nigeria.
The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arch Olamilekan Adegbite, disclosed this to newsmen at the Stakeholders Validation workshop on Research in collaboration with Nigeria Tertiary Institutions, on Tuesday.
The minister said the reports were from twelve institutions that have shared a N142.6 million research grant from the ministry for geological mapping and evaluation of particular mineral deposits which will increase the fountain of geosciences data available for investors.
He said in order to succeed in fulfilling the mandates of the ministry on job creation, raising the sector’s contribution to GDP and promoting sustainable mining, the ministry has to collaborate with stakeholders whose knowledge of the sector could facilitate the journey to shared mining.
“You will all agree with me that without data, there can be no serious mining activities. Nigeria lacks adequate bankable geosciences data needed to attract major mining companies to invest in the sector,” he added.
He noted that research is the intervention of academia in the sector that will be packaged for the industries, and some of the reports may also have to go back to the academia for further research to develop the best.
The research covered areas of Mining Engineering, Metallurgy and Mineral Processing, Geological Mapping, Industrial and Mineral Utilisation/Exports and Energy Minerals.
The institutions include Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; University of Port Harcourt; University of Jos; University of Nigeria Nsukka; Federal University of Technology, Minna; University of Lagos, University of Ibadan; Nasarawa State University, Keffi; and Kaduna State Polytechnic, among others.
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