Vice chancellor, University of Abuja, Professor Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah has disclosed plans to establish a Department of Geology and Mining.

The vice chancellor spoke in Abuja during a symposium on “Legislative Intervention in Nigeria’s Mining Sector For Sustainable Revenue Generation,” organised by the Institute For Legislative Studies of the institution.

He said, “All we are trying to do now is to mobilise the development of the department of geology and mining which has been already approved by the senate.

“Now we have our strategies about how we want to collaborate with the industries so we are intensifying that effort and we hope that in no distant future we will have this department.”

On his part, a former president Miners Association of Nigeria and the president Nigeria Chamber of Mines, Al Sani Shehu said mining is a sector with great potential in Nigeria, and called for a conducive atmosphere for mining.

He said some of the challenges facing mining in Nigeria include the absence of data, funding, access to technology and community issues.