Nasarawa State University Keffi (NSUK) has commenced the world’s first Medical Geology Post Graduate programme at the Jose Centino International Centre for Medical Geology (JacMedGeo) Research in the institution.
The institution’s director of Linkages and International Cooperation, Dr Kitso Nghargbu, disclosed this yesterday in Keffi, Keffi local government area.
Dr Nghargbu said medical geology is multidisciplinary and a new discipline, noting that no other tertiary institution worldwide has offered it because the study area is new.
“It is very young. The first textbook in medical geology was published only in 2005. So, it’s an emerging discipline, and NSUK, and, by extension, Nigeria and Africa, have trailed the blaze.
“We have become the pacesetters in running degree programs at the Post Graduate Diploma level, Masters Level and Doctorate level as far as the world is concerned.
“So, it goes beyond being the first in Nigeria and translates to being the first in the world,“ he added.
According to him, Medical Geology is the study of geological processes and materials with processes referred to earthquakes, volcanoes, climate change activities, flooding, tsunamis and all other forms of disasters that are geologically induced and sometimes caused by man.
“When you talk of materials, you talk of minerals, rocks, mineral waters or medicinal waters which benefit man. So, it‘s a study of those geological processes that impact man and his environment,“ he said.
He explained that the institution has made available a curriculum prepared, assessed, and approved by relevant education authorities, which is why the university‘s Senate approved the commencement of the degree programmes.
“So, the curriculum has been prepared. It has also been peer-reviewed by the founding fathers of medical geology by the best experts in medical geology research in the whole world.
“This centre that has just been established -the Jose Centino International Centre for Medical Geology Research, NSUK is a project of the International Medical Geology Association at the global level supported by several scholars and researchers within the health and environment spheres,“ he noted.
He said the postgraduate diploma in the discipline will take 18 months to complete, the Master‘s Degree 24 months, and the doctorate programme a maximum of 48 months.
He emphasised that there was enough manpower to handle the discipline in the institution, which has about 32 faculty members who are experts in medical geology.
“Just yesterday, the deputy minister of technology of the Islamic Republic of Iran wrote to us that he wants to be a part-time lecturer in this centre.
“Manpower is adequate. I want to assure you that even before we started selling forms yesterday, we had indications of interest from over ten countries. So, it will be a foremost international research centre,“ he said.