NGSA publishes 12 maps from ExxonMobil’s University Partnershp Programme

TWELVE maps of different geographic locations in Nigeria have been published by the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA), as a result of the University Partnership Programme (UPP) of Esso Exploration & Production Nigeria Limited (EEPNL), a subsidiary of ExxonMobil subsidiary.

Director General of the agency, Mr. Alex Ndubuisi Nwegbu, disclosed this at the recent 2015 UPP presentation ceremony in Abuja.

“The ESSO-UPP which started in 2008 with six Nigerian universities,” he said, “has today produced 12 thoroughly scrutinised and peer-reviewed 1:100, 000 geological maps. Many other maps are in the process of being produced.”

He said “the results have been encouraging so far with users attesting to the improved quality of these jointly produced maps,” adding that, “the interesting part of this programme is that it is not just for the undergraduates, but also for older professionals (teachers), whose need to update themselves in data acquisition, processing, interpretation and reporting cannot be over-emphasised.”

Mr. Nwegbu who said that the UPP was “beginning to have some positive impact on the pool of geosciences graduates produced by our universities,” commended EEPNL for its efforts in addressing the declining quality of geosciences graduates through the programme.

“Though the primary purpose of the UPP is to improve the quality of geosciences graduates from our universities, it has also created a platform that assists the NGSA in fulfilling its mandate of generating, archiving and disseminating geosciences data and information to the public,” he noted.

He further noted that despite the contributions to the country’s geological map through the UPP, “they were still, however, huge gaps in terms of where we are and where we ought to be regarding the numbers and to some extent, the quality.”

Nwegbu said though the ICT revolution has presented an array of technology-backed alternatives for geological surveys, “these applications cannot and should not substitute for meticulous, painstaking and credible field observations by well-trained geologists. This is precisely one of the areas the UPP is seeking to address.”

Describing the UPP social investment as “one of the highest forms of corporate social responsibility,” he urged other institutions to emulate this gesture by showing “concern for the state of affairs in our educational institutions.”