In a bid to curb the menace of unregistered mining engineers, the Federal Government has said it would henceforth process proposals for solid minerals investment from members of the Council of Nigerian Mining Engineers and Geoscientists (COMEG), in recognition of their critical role in the sector.
In a landmark endorsement, the Minister declared that all reports coming to the ministry must bear the COMEG stamp while also affirming that only COMEG certified professionals will be recognized by the federal government.
Minister of Solid Minerals Development Dr Oladele Alake announced the new measure to the inductees of the council at the ceremony held in Abuja today.
Dr. Alake said the Ministry will only attend to technical proposals for licensing and related procedures under the mining law with the seal of COMEG.
The minister lauded the institution and its Director-General, Professor Opafunsho, for training qualified mining engineers and geoscientists, emphasizing that the contribution of COMEG to the technical expertise of the mining sector cannot be overemphasized.
“Your role in the value chain can not be underemphasized because you are professional engineers and geoscientists. These are critical elements needed in the reactivation efforts of the solid
minerals sector. So, if we do not get it right from your level, Nigeria can’t get it right at the tertiary level – exploration and exploitation or even get any substantial revenue from the sector. Distinguished graduands and inductees, I’m very happy for you. Congratulations.”, Alake added.
The Minister charged the inductees to avail themselves of constant knowledge to keep up with new innovations, stressing that having been highly trained, the criticalities of their training will be put to bear on the success of President Bola Tinubu’s vision of enabling the mining sector to play a crucial role in contributing significantly to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Nigeria.
Speaking further, Alake admonished the inductees that COMEG relies on them to shore up its reputation whilst the ministry depends on their input to manifest the metrics of marketing the sector to global
investors.
“Nigeria needs your expertise at this critical juncture, not only to do it proud, but to enable her to achieve its objectives of increasing the revenue profile, reforming the mining sector, and expanding gross domestic product to make life more abundant for all Nigerians”, the Minister asserted.
Segun Tomori
Special Assistant on Media to the Honourable Minister of the Solid Minerals Development
14th December, 2023.
