…says Nigeria on path of leading global mining destinations

…commends MinDiver over efforts on establishing Geo-data centre

By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – THE Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc Olamilekan Adegbite, Thursday, expressed confidence and assured that commissioning of the National Geo Data Center will attract more investors into the nation’s solid minerals sector.

Adegbite gave the assurance while commissioning the National Geo Data Center at the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, NGSA, which was funded by the Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification Project (MinDiver), which is a World Bank Assisted project under the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.

He maintained that the Ministry is set to galvanize the sector with the Center being a game changer for the solid minerals sector.

The MinDiver engaged the services of experts from the British Geological Survey (BGS) as consultants who were led by Head of Minerals, BGS, Dr Joseph Mankelow.

He said: “The first and the last thing about mine is data. People want data so they can take informed investment decision.

“When I came to office, we embarked on this, and this National Geo Data Center is to provide the data in the format that will be useful, the format that investors want. That is the dream of the Center.

“I was in the office of the British Geological Survey in Nottingham, England that was in November 2019, and I saw the enormity of the work; all the historical data, the legacy data that they had, they were converting from the analog format to digital formats, which of course, will form part of what that would be stored at the Geo Data Center.

“Plus all the work that has been done by NGSA, particularly the last four years, NGSA has been up and doing from NIMEP to even the budgets considerations we get they have been doing a lot. So NGSA has contributed a lot as well.

“And to be here today, like I said, on the eve of the departure of this administration, we are able to commission this National Geo Data center enter.

“It is a major milestone in the sector, and this will catapult us to the next level because now, a lot of people often call me, come to the ministry, look for ways of getting information about our mineral deposits. You don’t have to do that anymore.

“This National Geo Data Center is even linked with a website of the NGSA, and subsequently will be linked with the website of the Ministry as well.”

He further explained that, “Just going on those websites, you can get a link to give you the information you want and it is structured in such a way that you can access different layers, so you pay for online and you can print your own drawings and information from this.”

He added that, “So it doesn’t get any better than this anywhere in the world. So we have joined the league of nations that are ready to do mining.”

The Permanent Secretary, Mines and Steel Development, Dr Oluwatoyin Akinlade, said the Centre is designed to be one stop shop for geoscientific data and information.

Akinlade also commended MinDiver for the funding to ensure the Centre is completed and commissioned to transform the solid minerals sector.

“The National Geodata Center was conceived as a national reliable repository of digital geoscience on Nigeria.

“It was designed to be robust, comprehensive, easy to find and readily accessible. Due to its importance as one stop shop for geoscientific data and information the British Geological Survey, BGS, was contracted to establish this high level infrastructure that provides security, resilience, access to mining investors, researchers, development experts and the general public” she said.

According to her, the data Center provides a modern workflow consisting of data capture, storage and dissemination, and that the Centre is both at the NGSA and the Nigeria Steel Research and Mineral Exploration Agency, Kaduna.

Meanwhile, she (Akinlade) disclosed that the MinDiver ensured that the staff of both agencies are trained to manage the system, and that the BGS were “also tasked to import Nigerian historical (colonial) geological data from archives in the UK into the new National Geodata Center.”

Meanwhile, the Director General, Nigeria Geological Survey Agency, Dr Abdulrazaq Garba, expressed joy over the commissioning of the Center, and said, “NGSA will ensure that geoscience data for national development, economic diversification comes quick.

“I also want to thank the MinDiver project coordinator for providing the support to develop the National Geodata Center. This is very pertinent because one of the missing links in the Nigerian mining industry is the availability of geoscience data in the format that investors can quickly access and with this the National Geodata Center will perform this role.”

He also commended experts from BGS on their commitment in building capacity of staff of the NGSA including the NGSA family for their cooperation.