By Martha Agas
Nigeria and Murdoch University, Western Australia, have reaffirmed their commitment to deepening knowledge transfer and professional capacity building in Nigeria’s solid minerals sector.
The development followed strategic discussions held between the university’s management and Nigerian delegation to Africa Down Under (ADU) conference.
The delegation was led by Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, who was represented by Mr Obadiah Nkom, Director-General of the Mining Cadastre Office.
A statement of the event was made available to newsmen on Sunday night in Abuja by Alake’s Special Assistant on Media, Mrs Lara Owoeye-Wise.
Owoeye-Wise said Nigeria’s delegation held discussions with the university’s management, led by Prof. Dee O’Connor, Dean, School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, on the sidelines of the conference.
She said the discussions focused on the next phase of the Nigeria–Australia Resource Industry Collaboration and Capacity Building Programme.
The engagement, she said, centred on consolidating the gains of the programme’s first two cohorts and developing an expanded third phase with stronger industry exposure.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Nigeria/Australia programme is a partnership between the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals Development and Murdoch University.
The programme has trained two cohorts of 11 Nigerian officials each since its inauguration in June 2025.
It combines technical, policy and leadership learning with field visits, industry engagement, job shadowing, workshops and exposure to Australia’s world-class resources governance and mining ecosystem.
Owoeye-Wise said It also sought to provide longer practical engagement and a sharper focus on preparing Nigerian mining professionals to identify, develop and present commercially viable opportunities.
According to her, the partnership reflects the broader objective of the solid minerals ministry to build a knowledge-driven mining sector capable of attracting investment, promoting responsible resource development, strengthening local expertise and driving value addition.
“For Nigeria, the collaboration also provides a platform for sustained institutional cooperation with Australian universities, regulators, industry and research institutions, ensuring that international expertise is translated into lasting Nigerian capacity,” she said.
“Meanwhile, the minister said that Knowledge transfer remained central to Nigeria’s mining reform agenda, stressing that sustainable transformation of the sector required building the human capacity to absorb and apply global best practices.
Alake said that the vision was not simply to attract capital and technology into Nigeria, but to ensure that Nigerians acquire the knowledge and expertise to deploy, manage and ultimately advance those capabilities themselves.
“This partnership with Murdoch University is, therefore, a critical investment in the people who will drive the next generation of Nigeria’s mining industry,” he said.
He said the proposed third cohort would build on the experience of the first two intakes by introducing stronger industry immersion, internships or job-shadowing opportunities.
According to him, it will also feature live industry case studies and training to enable participants to develop investor-ready mining opportunities.
He said the proposed third phase sought to move beyond conventional professional training towards practical knowledge transfer, industry immersion and the development of a new cadre of Nigerian mining professionals.
He said the professionals would be equipped to contribute directly to exploration, project development, investment promotion, environmental, social and governance (ESG) compliance, and downstream value addition.(NAN)
Edited by Kadiri Abdulrahman