By SUNDAY ABBA, Abuja
The National Association of Nigeria Students, (NANS) on Wednesday in Abuja conferred its Outstanding Leadership Award (OLA) on the director general of the Nigerian Mining Cadastral Office (NMCO) Engr Obadiah Simon Nkom, at the institution’s headquarters in recognition of his contributions to the growth and development of the country through prudent and value-added administration of mineral titles in the country.
In his acceptance speech, the MCO boss who expressed delight over his recognition said the honour done to him by the Nigerian students showed that people are watching, adding that it had only come to encourage him to work harder towards taking the office’s contribution to sectorial and national development to a higher level.
Noting that developing Nigeria is a responsibility that all and sundry must take, he said while assuming office as the DG, the mandate to uphold transparency, accountability, and revenue maximisation was clearly established and being followed to the latter under his watch, adding that since 2019 when he came on board and up till now that he is serving second term following his reappointment in January, the revenues accruing from the MCO has always surpassed the previous year.
Expressing the readiness of his office to partner NANS in undertaking the responsibility of developing Nigeria, the number one mineral titles administrator in the country noted that the solid minerals constitute a large percentage of of the wealth of nations hence the essence developing the mining sector is to create more jobs for the well-being of citizens in the country, especially for the youths.
He said: “When you look at our revenue since 2019, we have always surpassed the previous year. During the COVID-19 in 2020, we supposed to have shut down, but we still surpassed the previous year, even as I speak today even though we are in the middle of the year, we have surpassed last year’s revenue. It simply means that if at the end of June, we are already surpassing last year then whatever it is we have a target we need this Internally Generated Revenue, IGR.”
He also recalled how the effort of the office under his watch to upgrade technologically and digitally had begun to pay off, stating how the MCO emerged the best digital innovation agency of the federal government for 2022 by NIRA, a Non- governmental body established to manage the Nigeria’s country code, which presented the award to the best portal of the federal government with excellent user experience that promote innovation and local content development with the .ng domain name.
“It’s simply taking up our responsibility according to our conscience and passion for the development of the country,” he noted.
He commended the Management and Staff of the MCO for their efforts towards achieving the required growth for the development of the sector and economy.
He praised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration for showing concerns on the plights and well-being of the Nigerian students.
He also appreciated the Executive of NANS for recognizing his efforts towards ensuring the growth of the country’s economy through the MCO.
Speaking earlier, the National Secretary of NANS, Usman Baba Kaikai, the national EXCO of NANS, because of the importance they attach to the visit, mobilised to attend from far and near, they were on ground to affirm their support for the contributions of the Nkom-led MCO to the development of the mining sector and the economy of the country at large, hailing the positive impact of his leadership style on the day-to-day operations of the office, and most importantly how the system had been sanitised with transparency and accountability.
Speaking further, he said the award is “to encourage you to continue to do more because you’re doing it in the interest of the growth and wellbeing of all Nigerians. As such we’re proud to associate with your stewardship.