‘Field Mapping will Boost Geological Data for Economic Benefits’
Considering the importance of field mapping among geoscience students, the Chief Executive Officer of Ehimade Nigeria Limited, Dr. Daniel Lambert-Aikhionbare, told Funmi Ogundare how his organisation has been bridging the gap between the industry and acad
Field mapping and the accurate collection of reliable geological data is essential for an understanding of the earth’s processes and environments. The experience and comprehension that can be gained through the collection of geological data, according to experts is valuable for science students and lecturers in the field.
The Chief Executive Officer of Ehimade Nigeria Limited, Dr. Daniel Lambert-Aikhionbare described field mapping in geosciences as the basis, saying that everything one does is about mapping and interpreting maps.
He said in the oil and gas, water and engineering industry, they make and interpret maps, adding that geologists who want to be sound must learn to make and interpret maps. In 2007, he said his organisation held a standardisation field mapping workshop which entailed getting to the site, doing the field work, preparing the map and writing the report.
“The train-the-trainer workshop we had goes right through the gamut of field mapping. There is no field map that is complete until you write the report. Everybody who wants to see the map must know what your thoughts are and what you want people to see on the map.”
During the workshop, he said it was observed that many lecturers had become specialists and do not understand geology, saying that there is no way they can understand what they are teaching without making maps.
“Every geoscientist is modelling and you must have a concept in your mind of what you are trying to do. We decided that at the workshop which was both field work and classroom, that every year, we will run a train-the-trainer where we re-tool the lecturers on how best to teach the students and in doing that we are trying to ensure a level playing field where every lecturer will be teaching the students about the same thing.”
On the impact of the programme on some select universities, Lambert-Aikhionbare said Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited (EEPNL), an affiliate of ExxonMobil has been supporting them through its University Partnering Programme (UPP) and University Assistant Programme (UAP) to train at least 25 lecturers at the workshop every year and ensure that the students become good geologists.
“We see that there is light at the end of the tunnel. For one thing in any university, we see the lecturers wanting to go to field work. So when that interest is generated, then field work can be properly done so that they can also impact the students. For any university that we select, we stay there for a little while and make the impact felt so we are able to evaluate.
“Out of the UPP, we expect that the department will produce a geologic map. When they are doing the work, we send in geological surveying mentors to help them do a proper map. We also give work stations to expose the students and ensure that they are almost immediately usable by the industry.”
He said it selected six universities including University of Ibadan, University of Benin, Edo State, University of Calabar, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, among others, adding that the institutions must produce a map that can be published by the geological survey agency of Nigeria which is the only body authorised to publish such.
What we do is when the university finish with the maps, we send it to geological survey agency of Nigeria, they upgrade and pair review it by bringing in experts to put it together which will be ready for publication.
“We ran those through the first five years of the programme and because they spent five years, UI was able to produce two maps, Ahmadu Bello university was able to produce two, UNIBEN produced two, OAU produced one, UNN also produced two, UNICAL is producing two, while Delta State university produced one.
So we are gradually covering all the universities. So far we have produced 12 geologic maps which is a huge contribution to the economy. We have another six to be produced and launched in November, so by the end of this year, we are close to producing about 20 maps.”
Asked about the feedback from the institutions, Lambert-Aikhionbare said though before now, they had a challenge of funding, but with the support from Esso which gives each university N5.77 million a year to do field work, out of which lecturers are paid some allowances to encourage them.
We know that the students on their own cannot produce good maps, so we encourage the lecturers to go with them, work and produce the maps and the other aspect is that we are able to work with the geological survey such any map that is produced by a university will carry the name of that university. The effort has been great in the area of geosciences such that every university that has gone through it realises the impact. They have now seen that there is fun and joy in doing Geology, he stressed.
He is of the view that graduates of any discipline will not find it difficult to get jobs, if they are good, while expressing concern that and one of the biggest mistake we are making in the country is over production of graduates and emphasis on university education.
We have to point out where error may have cropped in. If you look at the education policy in the country; 6-3-3-4, that is what we are still operating. With the three years in junior secondary school, you are supposed to decide if you have the brains to continue or you want to do vocational studies and be a master of you own. It does not mean you are less endowed than the man who goes to a university. It just means that that is where your flair is.
No parents want the child to go through the vocational course because they think it is a class thing and that is what is killing us. The drivers, mechanics and market women think the child must go to university. If he does not go, he is less than the child of a CEO of a company and that he could not be far from that. There are children who are endowed with their hands, they don’t even need to go to school and they will build electronics for you. That is what that education policy tries to identify.
“We all want to build houses, the people who go to a vocational school or polytechnic are the ones that will build it. We see all these expatriates on the road and we call them engineers, they are not engineers, they are technologists. The graduate is supposed to conceptualise and design, and these people are supposed to execute. But we have missed it completely in this country.
The chief executive officer however stressed the need for the government to enforce the policy that has been laid down that will ensure that not everybody will go through a university system.
In the elementary school, you have to ensure that the children get a robust and all rounded education. So when they do that, they go into the secondary school, and decide that they want to be the best craft man, the next three years when you finish, you will decide if you want to go to a polytechnic or university. With What JAMB has done, your first choice is a university, second choice is polytechnic and third choice is NCE, so we are trying to do what is right. If they can follow that, then it will go a long way in doing us a lot of good.
We know that the students on their own cannot produce good maps, so we encourage the lecturers to go with them, work and produce the maps and the other aspect is that we are able to work with the geological survey such any map that is produced by a university will carry the name of that university