The Federal Government has replaced the use of seals by professionals and contractors in the mining and geo-science sector with digital stamps.
The stamps, which bear the name of the professional or company name and number, the FG says, will help check quackery in the profession.
Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite, who made the disclosure, said henceforth, anything that does not have the stamp in the ministry and agencies will no longer be recognised.
He said the decision will equally be taken to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to approve its usage in all Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDA’s) of government for mining engineers and geoscientists.
The Minister said this in Abuja at the official launch of the digital stamp by the Council of Nigerian Mining Engineers and Geoscientists (COMEG).
Adegbite revealed that the digital stamps will be provided solely by COMEG to its members and anyone that seeks to acquire the stamp will have to join the membership of the professional body.
He said the use of digital stamps by professional bodies is not new in the country, since lawyers, architects and engineers already use it.
His words, “And I think that every profession in the country will come to the realisation at one point or the other that to check quackery, you must have this digital stamps. Even our seals, I am an architect; seals can even be faked because it’s an artisan that makes the seals for you; so it can always be duplicated.”
Registrar/Chief Executive COMEG, Prof. Zacheus Opafunso, said the permission to go digital was approved with the intention of stamping out quackery and identifying every professional in the industry.