Francis Kadiri
For the first time in the past thirty years, the Federal Government, through the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Abubakar Bawa Bwari has commissioned two newly acquired drilling rigs, a development that he said will lead to increased revenue generation for the country.
According to the minister who commissioned the minerals exploration heavy duty equipment, the effort shows commitment of government to the development of mines and steel sector, adding that it aims to realise the economic diversification agenda of the administration.
The minister who also commissioned the installation of seismometers, an equipment that gives signal of pendint earthquakes across the country said a major policy thrust of the present administration is the diversification of the economy hinged mainly on development of solid mineral resources.
“Considering the mining sector value chain, exploration is key to its success.” According to the minister, the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA), being the key agency of the ministry involved in exploration, much is expected in terms of delivering on quality geoscience data.
He however explained that as a result of inadequate funding, a lot of the agency’s activities are hampered by inefficient facilities particularly obsolete drilling rigs. “This situation is changing because of the commitment of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.”
The minister further explained that field vehicles and state-of-the-art exploration equipment have been procured adding that laboratory facilities have also been rehabilitated and inaugurated. “The NGSA has just procured two high calibre drilling rigs following the approval of the Federal Executive Council. This has not happened in the past thirty years.
The Director General, NGSA, Mr Alex Nwegbu, said the acquisition of the drilling rigs is a major achievement of the Muhammadu Buhari administration adding that the newly acquired HYDX-5A rigs have the capacity of probing down to 1.5-kilometre depth, an unusually impressive capacity.
He explained that the purchase and installation of the equipment is necessary to address fears caused by the tremor that shook parts of the Federal Capital Territory recently, stating that climate change had forced the government to have a retract on its stand on the possibility of earthquakes in the country.
The minister said: “You know of the recent occurrence of tremor in Abuja. Two years ago, there was one in Kwoi, Kaduna State. After the Kwoi incident, we said we have to be proactive. We budgeted for seismometers. We bought them. As we were about installing them, the Abuja occurrence took place.
“Today, we are going to install one seismometer in Abuja out of the six we intend to install across the country. They will be installed based on geological requirements.
“A lot is happening in the world as per climate change. So, some of the things that ordinarily we should not expect are happening in a lot of places. You see floods in areas that you never expected flood would take place. So, today, we cannot pretend that we are not prone to this kind of occurrence. It has happened and we have all witnessed it. The ministerial committee we set up will start sitting on Thursday.”