Towards ensuring its financial sustainance, the Honourable Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake has urged the authorities of Obafemi Awolowo University to harness its mineral and intellectual resources to develop a world-class centre of mining excellence.
This, he said, should bridge mining theory, extraction and processing.
The Minister gave the charge during a meeting with high-powered delegation of the University’s Governing Council, led by Professor Ralph Akinfeleye.
According to him, the commercial value of the minerals available to the institution is sufficient to reduce the government subvention’s share in its total budgetary allocation.
To harness the resources, Dr. Alake urged the University to explore private-sector partnerships.
Such partnership, he said, would provide technical expertise that is required to attract investors.
“You have the resource endowment underground, and you have the intellectual capacity.
“You can bring in investors through a joint venture, and they can provide the capital and machinery.
“At the same time, the University earns revenue and your experts participate as consultants and technical partners.”
He praised OAU for its longstanding contribution to the training of geologists and other professionals in Nigeria’s mining industry.
The institution, he said, should deepen its role in mineral exploration, research, innovation and commercialisation.
He said “The gap between intellectualism and application must be closed. Universities should not only generate knowledge; they should translate that knowledge into solutions, enterprises and economic value for society”
Noting that ownership of land does not automatically confer ownership of the mineral resources beneath it, he said, they are owned by the Federal Government in accordance with the Constitution and relevant mining laws of Nigeria.
According to him, the Federal Government has restructured the development of Nigeria’s bitumen resources through designated bitumen blocks and competitive bidding by investors.
“The University owns the land, but where there are mineral resources, their exploration and exploitation must still be undertaken in accordance with the law.
“We must find a win-win situation that protects legitimate interests while upholding the Federal Government’s regulatory responsibility.”
The Minister expressed the Ministry’s commitment to transparent, predictable and investment-friendly regulatory environment that promotes responsible mining, value addition and sustainable economic benefits for Nigerians.
Other members of the delegation at the meeting are Ambassador Edward Sarki, Barr. Joseph Abaagu, Prof Olatunbosun Adedayo and Barrister Yinka Ayanfola.