The Nigeria Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS) has sought for increased funding for the generation of geosciences data.
The President of NMGS, Prof Akinade Olatunji, said this at the 59th Annual International Conference and Exhibition (AICE) of the society in Jos.
Olatunji in his presentation titled ”Enabling African Geodata’` said that generating geodata data was a very expensive project due to the technical and complex processes involved in its gathering.
He expressed concern that non-professionals, particularly policymakers, might be sceptical when large amounts are proposed for the process.
Olatunji urged the engagement of professionals to lead relevant ministries and other government agencies to ensure seamless operations and understanding of the requirements of such proposals.
”Data is expensive but it doesn’t look real to people who make decisions, so they don’t want to put money there, that is the bane but things are changing gradually,” he said.
He said that because of the costly nature of data, in a globalised world, data sharing could help alleviate the situation through platforms like the Deep-time Digital Earth Programme (DDE).
He urged geoscientists, particularly the younger ones, to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the platform.
“ DDE is connecting all the data bases available across the globe. It is designed to give better result and beneficiation for the work of geoscientist.
” The platform is so unique to work across borders, and creates a very robust environment of data execution.
“The open-source nature of the DDE and the infrastructure it guarantees also provides budding geodata scientists on the continent opportunities to acquire appropriate skill sets in data interpretation and management,” he explained.
The DDE is a big science programme designed to facilitate innovation in understanding the earth’s evolution and applications, as well as the Sustainable Development Goals by utilising big data analytics, internet cloud computing, data mining, machine learning and Artificial Intelligence.
Similarly, during his presentation on the challenges of geodata in Nigeria, an expert, Dr Henry Davies, highlighted the lack of a coordinated centralised national geodatabase and limited access to quality geo sciences data as significant challenges.
He added that duplication of geoscience data; inadequate information sharing among stakeholders and poor data quality among other factors, were the challenges, which the DDE platform could help address.
The conference, with the theme ‘Emerging Global Perspectives, Trends, and Sustainable Development of Minerals and Energy Resources,’ took place from March 17 to March 22. (NAN)
