Ministry Commissions Research Lab

The Director-General of
Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA), Alex Ndubuisi, says it is counterproductive for Nigeria with enormous mineral wealth to operate for so many years without a world-class mineral laboratory till present.
The Director General said, such circumstance made miners and exporters of solid mineral ores suffer untold financial losses and commercial hiccups with their international partners who exploit local operators because there was no bankable mineral laboratory to analyse and certify the content of the mineral ore.
He said t his at the launching, recently, of the National Geosciences Research Laboratories of the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) for public and commercial operations.
The D-G who stated that Nigeria has lost so much as a result of absence of the research laboratory noted that the 95 years of existence of the agency had afforded it with the opportunity to diversely work in the nation’s mineral and establish documentaries of these minerals across the nation.
The President of Miners Association of Nigeria, Sani Shehu, said the impact of Cargo Defense Fund in trade facilitation had been wonderful across board and expressed joy that with Cargo Defence Fund focusing on mineral trade, a new dawn had come to the mineral trade in the country.
“I expect formalisation of this trade now in a professional way”.
The Chairman, NGSA, Ibrahim Garba, in his address said the development would reduce cost to miners and give credence to minerals from Nigeria.
“With this laboratory, miners are well positioned to cut costs of mineral easier which before now were done in United Kingdom, South Africa or Australia”, he said, noting that Nigerian miners would now be coming out with much credibility as there is a national laboratory with the state of the arts equipment to test and analyse any mineral thoroughly irrespective of its origin.
He said he was coming in contact with Cargo Defense Fund for the first time and expressed optimism that mineral trade in Nigeria being a technical trade has got all that is required internationally to have it done professionally and legally from Nigeria.
The laboratory was made possible through the collaboration of NGSA, CDF, and Nexim Bank.