The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Mohammed Sada, has attributed the backwardness of the mineral sector to poor arithmetic planning.
Sada spoke with journalists while leading a delegation on an assessment visit to the National Geosciences Research Laboratory Centre in Kaduna on Friday.
He said: “What we realised was that the sector was a bit backward because of the planning arithmetic which was not properly done; which is why, for the last one year, what we tried to do was ensure a good institution and regulatory framework.”
The minister was optimistic while inspecting the laboratory equipment, which included the Epsilon 5 Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescent Spectrometer and Empyrean X-ray Diffractions Spectrometer (said to be the first in Sub-Saharan Africa), with South Africa acquiring two after Nigeria.
Other equipment available at the laboratory included the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), the Ultraviolet Visible Spectrometer, Mini Water Lab equipment, Minipal 4 Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescent Spectrometer, among others.
Architect Sada said the ministry would ensure they collaborate with other Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to ensure that facilities are on ground in line with the major objectives of the transformational agenda, which is the economy, to move the sector forward.
According the acting director of the centre Abu Luke, who received the delegation, “The laboratory would provide reliable and credible analytical support services to the mining and minerals industry, with the centre becoming a centre of excellence of local and international repute as a geosciences referral laboratory.
“With full utilisation of this these analytical equipment, there is no doubt that much revenue would be generated to foster growth and reduce poverty as well as putting this country in the mining map of the world.”
The project coordinator Linus Adie, assured that the available equipment would be effective in developing not only the minerals and mining sector, but agricultural, pharmaceutical and other sectors of the economy.
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