The President of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS) Engineer Obadiah Nkom has said now that the oil prices is going down, it’s the best to develop the mineral sector.
Nkom stated this when he led a delegation of members of the society on a courtesy call to the Minister of Mines and Steel Development Arc. Olamilakan Adegbite in Abuja yesterday.
“The oil industry is going down. Many countries are working to see that the oil price is crashed completely. We as professional geoscientist have seen that the mineral sector plays a very key role. This is the future of Nigeria and this is the future of the world.” Nkom said.
Also read: Experts In Fresh Move To Address Oil, Gas Woes
A former President of the Society, Prof Gbenga Okunlola said with over 65,000 of geoscientist in the country, the society has built its capacity and can help the mineral sector to be up and running.
“The foreigners were able to identify 8 minerals before they left , now we are talking of 44 minerals. It’s not the foreigners who discovered it, its members of this society in the academia and in Geological survey,” He said.
Another member of the society, Prof. Deborah Ajakaiye pleaded with the federal government to see that the laboratory for testing minerals in Kaduna is equipped, certified and made functional to serve the nation.
In his response, the Minister Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite promised to see that the laboratory becomes functional.
“I want to see our laboratory in Kaduna functional. A lot of work is been done on that already so that when we want to test minerals we can do anything others can do in the world. When we make it world-class, people from other countries can bring things to certify here.
Read the original article on Daily Trust
