By Vivian Emoni

 The Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) has concluded its mega mineral clinic to ensure that goals scored in area of geosciences data generation are digested by investors.

The Director-General of the agency, Dr Abdulrazaq Garba, said this on Saturday in Abuja, at an occasion of its Mineral Promotion, Sensitisation and Dissemination (Mineral clinic), organised by the agency.

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.

He said that the programme was a milestone of the agency’s commitment to mineral promotion, sensitisation, and dissemination which are in line with the present administration’s agenda.

He said 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.

He said that more wealth and jobs can be created if investors take advantage of the data.

According to him, the aim of the mineral clinics is 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.

“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,” he said.

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.

He said that one of the agency’s mandate was to generate geoscience data for wealth creation and national development.

“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.

“The data generated by the NGSA prompted the agency to re-organise the Mineral Clinic in six geopolitical zones, which was a huge success.

“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,” he said.

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.

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.

According to Akinlade, it was not designated as clinic by chance but, I believe it is aimed to diagnose and treat pertinent issues that affect the mineral and metal sectors.

“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,” he said.

The Permanent secretary said that the sector is faced with many challenges, adding that the challenges have not deterred the agency from making appreciable progress on many fronts.

Mr Auwal Bununu, 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.

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. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)