Mining: FG presents certificates of accreditation to 19 institutions

Federal Government, yesterday, presented certificates of accreditation to 19 institutions. The gesture was intended to boost standards of education obtained by persons qualified to practice as registered mining engineers, geoscientists and other professionals in the extractive industry.

The event was organised by Council of Nigerian Mining Engineers and Geoscientists (COMEG), the regulatory body for all professionals and firms in the geosciences, mines and steel sectors.

Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, while presenting the certificate to universities, in Abuja, commended COMEG for striving to discharge its mandate of continuous registration of professionals.

Adegbite said: “The need for regular monitoring and evaluation of training process in tertiary institutions cannot be overemphasised. I, therefore, salute the council for this milestone. I also congratulate the deserving accredited institutions, calling on them not to rest on their oars but continue to improve.”

In his remarks, COMEG chairman, Dr. Godspower Ebimotimi Okpoi, said: “In the COMEG Act, training comes first before other responsibilities. It, therefore, follows that good professional practice can only come out of good education and training.”

He said the council would set up a committee to review National Universities Commission’s Core Curriculum and Minimum Academic Standards document, to fashion out COMEG’s equivalent.

In his address, Registrar and Chief Executive, COMEG, Prof. Zacheus Opafunso, commended the accredited institutions and called on others, yet to be accredited, to cooperate with COMEG’s mandate for their accreditation.

Opafunso said: “We thank God that we have a new vista with the resuscitation of the accreditation exercise under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari. Thus in 2021, 30 programmers, in 19 tertiary institutions in the South-West, South-East and South-South of the country were accredited.

The accredited are: Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (Applied Geology and Applied Geophysics); Delta State University (Geology); Mountain Top University (Geophysics and Geology); Obafemi Awolowo University (Geology and Geophysics); Adekunle Ajasin University (Applied Geophysics and Geology); University of Lagos (Geology and Geophysics); Federal University of Technology, Akure (Mining Engineering, Remote sensing and Applies Geology); Ajayi Crowther University (Geology); Rivers State University (Geology); University of Nigeria, Nsukka (Geology) and Gregory University (Geology).

Others are Ekiti State University (Geology); Osun State University (Geology); Ebonyi State University (Geology); University of Ibadan (Geology); University of Port Harcourt (Geology); Crawford University (Geology and Mineral Science); Petroleum training Institute (HND Petroleum Engineering and Geosciences) and Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti (HND Geological Engineering).