The Federal Government said on Tuesday that it was committed to value addition to national resources and raw materials export reduction in order to drive home grown solutions to national economic challenges.
The Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Chief Uche Nnaji, said this when Prof. Akinade Olatunj, President, Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS) and his team visited him in Abuja.
He said the government was also resolute in supporting capacity building, research and development to foster innovative solutions to challenges facing the country.
The minister urged the NMGS to collaborate with agencies under the ministry to leverage government’s programmes for scientific and technological development.
He acknowledged the society’s role in economic development, adding that mining and geosciences field was critical to economic diversification and industrialisation of the nation.
“We must strengthen collaboration to integrate cutting-edge technologies for efficiency, safety and economic sustainability of the country,” he said.
The minister said that modernisation of the sector could be successfully achieved if artificial intelligence was explored.
He said doing so would lead to optimal resource management and promoting renewable energy to enhance efficiency.
He said advanced geopolitical surveys could improve resource estimation.
Earlier, Olatunji said the visit was to enhance collaboration with the ministry in the areas of innovation, science and technology.
He said one of the aims of the society was to promote innovation, create and sustain the nation’s wealth through oil and gas, agriculture and extraction of solid minerals.
