Big Data Critical to Boost Solid Minerals Sector-Alake
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, says generating big data in the solid minerals sector is critical in attracting investors to the sector to boost Nigeria’s economic profile.
Alake disclosed this in an interview on Tuesday in Abuja. He underscored the importance of big data in guiding investors to make informed decisions on the sector, while helping Nigeria to markets its vast minerals.
“You must know the type of minerals, the volume of these minerals and the longevity in terms of tenure. The combination of geophysical data, geo science data, geological is what we call big data.
“We had a very low amount of big data, it covered only five per cent of our land area and five minerals out of 44, leaving 39 unexploited, unknown,’’ he said. He explained that the ministry proposed N200 billion to generate data to market its minerals, as the procedure required series of stages but eventually only N2billion was approved.
“There is aero magnetic exploration, there is drilling-underground exploration and it is an expensive business.
“When we came in, we found out that Nigeria has over a hundred minerals and out of it 44 are internationally sought after. All previous efforts to explore to generate data on the minerals only amounted to data generated on five out of 44.
“And even all the exploration efforts done in the past only covered about five per cent of the land of Nigeria,’’ he said. He said that for Nigeria to diversify its economy, it must invest in generating big data, as smaller countries with fewer mineral resources than Nigeria, were spending more on the exercise.
“For example, Senegal has a land area of 71,000sqkm and spent about eight to nine million dollars on exploration annually. Nigeria in contrast has about 93,000SqKm, more than about 12 times the size of Senegal, and last year we spent about N2.5billion on exploration.
“In the same period, Ivory Coast spent about 146 million dollars on exploration, Congo spent 133 million dollars, and we have more minerals than these countries that are spending so much on exploration.
“Because it is the data that will attract the investors, they will want to know the data in your sector so that they can make informed investment decision, ’’ he said.
The Federal Government on May 14, unveiled the Nigerian Minerals Resource Decision Support System software, aimed at helping investors make informed decision in the sector. The Minister at the unveiling, explained that the software serves as a one stop shop for investors seeking geoscience data and other credible information to make informed decisions. Multilateral Development Banks to Develop Approach for Measuring Climate Results
