The development partnership between the National Metallurgical Development Centre, NMDC and the University of Jos, Plateau State will provide a platform for insightful interface between industry practitioners and the academics in order to develop innovative measures that will competently solve the problems of the Nigerian steel industry, Director General of the NMDC, Professor Ibrahim Madugu has said.
Professor Madugu who dropped the hint on Wednesday during the occasion of the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Centre and the University, at the NMDC, in Jos said the MoU covers all areas of research and development activities, including capacity building and man power development, adding that the Centre’s contributions were key to the establishment of most steel plants in Nigeria.
According to Professor Madugu, the centre played leadership role in the development of Nigeria’s metallurgical and steel industry since inception, stating that it has expanded the scope of its activities to boost its revenue base. The Director General further said that NMDC had been in collaboration with a number of private and government agencies on key areas of steel and metallurgy industry.
Prof. Madugu hinted that the Centre was imparting positively on the economy through its support service to metallurgical and allied agencies, through which a number of jobs were being generated.
According to him, “the Centre has been repositioned with integrated facilities to carry out research and development activities in all areas of metallurgy and steel industry”.
The Director General announced that the Centre was currently in collaboration with a number of foreign and local institutions on technical areas of its operations.
He described the signing of the MOU between the Centre and the University as a significant step towards advancing the course research and development activities in the country.
In his remark at the occasion, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Hayward Babale Mufuyai stated that he was convinced that the MOU would help to promote areas of common interest between the two institutions, particularly in the aspect of adding value to the mining activities in Jos and the country in general.
Prof. Mufuyai expressed hope that the support service that would be provided by NMDC to the University would facilitate the realization of the University’s proposed establishment of the faculty of Engineering, adding that the university would work to ensure the actualization of the aims and objectives of the MoU.
