- Programme will boost FG’s economic diversification agenda, actualise AMV – DG, NGSA
- OAGS, EU Geological Surveys, in-country experts, academia, others to participate, says Director
The Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) is set to boost the Federal Government’s Economic Diversification Agenda as it hosts trainees from twenty geological survey organisations attracted from member-countries of the Organization of African Geological Surveys (OAGS), in the PanAfGeo Training Programme which opening ceremony is on Monday November 6, 2017.
It is pertinent to note that this development is being scored, shortly after Nigeria won the Presidency of the Organization of African Geological Surveys (OAGS), an organization operating within the structure of the African Union (AU) tasked with actualizing the African Mining Vision.
Speaking in his office, the current President of the Organization of African Geological Surveys (OAGS) who doubles as Director-General of the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, Alex Ndubuisi Nwegbu, said “the dearth of capacity and management skills on a continental for the mining sector has remained a challenge inhibiting the continent from optimizing the benefits of mineral resource endowment.” This he said was why the “EuroSurveys-Organization of African Geological Surveys (EGS-OAGS) collaborated to develop geoscientific skills and know-how in African Geological Surveys tagged “PanAfGeo”
According to the Director General, “this training programme will enhance transfer of mining sector knowledge, build skills acquisition and greatly improve the provision of adequate equipment for the industry,” adding that the African continent is endowed with some of the world’s greatest reserves of minerals and enjoys top position in terms of commodities production.
“However, the continent also suffers from lack of high quality and systematic geo-scientific data. Therefore knowledge-sharing events like the PanAfGeo training program aims to actualise the OAGS mandate of attaining accurate and comparable geo scientific infrastructure through capacity building.”
The OAGS President further stated that the OAGS mandate of actualizing the tenets of the African Mining Vision (AMV) is through this partnership with the EuroSurveys, carrying out series of training modules or WorkPacks in the areas of Geoscientific Mapping, Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining and Geoformation Management.”
Our findings show that Nigeria’s bid for economic diversification is being significantly enhanced by the participation of several NGSA staffs at training programmes held in several African Countries.
A Director at the NGSA, Dr A. A Garba who is in charge of the Economic Geology and Coordinator of the In-Country arrangements for the training said Nigeria stands to benefit immensely from hosting this training in the understanding of mineral deposits and assessment. He said the training, which will last for about two weeks also has field exercises aimed at exposing participants to the natural endowments of the country and delineating the mineral prospectivity of some areas.
According to him, no less than eight officials of the NGSA will participate in the training with nationals from nineteen other African Countries. The Director reiterated that the incumbency of the headship of the OAGS will continue to place Nigeria at a position of advantage on issues that had to do with the geosciences in Africa.
Garba further said that the hub of the training program resides in the consortium of the geological surveys of several EU Countries, while local expertise from in-country experts within the academia and elsewhere will be on hand to espouse local geology and mineral potentials. This he said will be of huge benefit as well as boost the diversification agenda of the government.
Asked whether there have been improvements in the work standards of NGSA officials as a result of these training programmes, the OAGS President, Alex Ndubuisi Nwegbu said that he has noticed significant improvements in the work output and proficiency of the staff of the Agency. He further stated that the NGSA along with the current advantage of continental incumbency will continue to remain focused on the current drive of improving her expertise through the capacity building programme. This, he said will remain a critical success factor towards the attainment of the lofty objectives of diversifying Nigeria’s economy from oil to the non-oil sector.
