By Palma Ileye
Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, NGSA, as part of efforts to attract investments in the solid minerals sector, has hatched plans to interact with and educate individuals and corporate members of the public on the potentials of solid minerals or group of minerals for wealth creation and national development.
Disclosing this in Abuja, the Director-General, NGSA, Dr Abdulrazaq Garba, said the agency had completed arrangements to host an event tagged “NGSA Mineral Clinic: Mineral Promotion, Sensitisation and Dissemination” on 18th February, 2023 at the NGSA Headquarters in Abuja.
Speaking on behalf of the DG, Deputy Director, Mineral Promotion/Customer Service, NGSA, Dr Julius Kwache, explained that the agency had generated reliable geoscience data needed by prospective investors to make investment decisions, adding that the Mineral Clinic is aimed at encouraging Nigerians to take advantage of the investment opportunities availed them by the data.
Garba noted that the essence of the Mineral Clinic was to ensure that the goals scored in the area of geosciences data generation was effectively disseminated and properly digested by the public.
The Director-General said: “In recent time, the NGSA has successfully conducted Mineral Clinics in the six geopolitical zones of the country. Over 400 hundred potential investors attended the mineral clinic in all the 6 geopolitical zones and over 100 samples of rocks and minerals were tested with Hand-Held XRF free of charge.”
This, according to the Director General, was to encourage investors into the mining sector in line with the current administration agenda of diversifying the economy of the country from oil-base to solid minerals.
“In furtherance of this effort, we would conduct the exercise as a grand finale at the Headquarters of the NGSA in Abuja on February 18th 2023 he said,” he added.
He expressed concern that despite the abundance of solid minerals in Nigerian, investors are yet to take full advantage of the opportunity.
Speaking further, Garba said, “As an exploration Agency, we will be most fulfilled when people deploy the generated geosciences data for economic transformation of the country.
“We want Nigerians and foreigners to maximise their use of the geosciences data we have been generating for the past 100 years.”
He added that in the past four years, the current management of the agency went extra mile to increase the resource base of industrial minerals, even as he acknowledged that the Federal Government sponsored National Integrated Mineral Exploration Project, NIMEP, did so much to advance the cause of geosciences data generation.