Uni-Abuja set to establish Geology Department

The Vice Chancellor, University of Abuja, FCT, Prof. Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, has unveiled plans to establish a Department of Geology and Mining in the University for the development of education.

Na’Allah disclosed this on Tuesday during a symposium, titled “Legislative Intervention In Nigeria’s Mining Sector For Sustainable Revenue Generation”, organized by the Institute for Legislative Studies of the Institution.

He said the University is mobilising the development of the department of geology and mining which has already been approved by the Senate to help develop the mining sector in the country.

According to him, the department, if completed, would go a long way to address the challenges associated with the mining sector and would foster job creation in the country.

“Now we have our strategies about how we want to collaborate with the industries so we are intensifying that effort and we hope to achieve this in no distant future.

“We have this department with all the strategies to make and ensure development and in order to help national development in the mining sector,” he said.

However, he called on the students in the institution to be hard working and come up with cutting-edge researches that would enable them win grants for development.

He said with the rate of socio-economic problems confronting the nation, tertiary institutions must solve societal and national problems through adequate researches.

On his part, All-Sani Shehu, the former president of Miners Association of Nigeria and the president, Nigeria Chamber of Mines, said the sector has great potentials in Nigeria, and called for a conducive atmosphere for mining in the country.

He said the idea behind the symposium was to reposition the Department of geology and mining and to deepen Legislative processes for the development of the country.

Shehu identified some of the challenges facing the mining sector in Nigeria to include the absence of data, funding, access to technology and community issues in the country.

Meanwhile, the Director of Institute for Legislative Studies, Prof. Sherrif Gali-Ibrahim, advocated for proper harnessing of solid minerals with a view to boosting the Country’s GDP.

Also, the President of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Almujtaba Abubakar, called on Super Agencies to regulate the mining sector for better revenue generation in the country.