Ahead of the first Nigeria-Africa Natural Resources and Energy Investment Summit which opening ceremony is expected to be declared open by President Muhammadu Buhari by 8.30am today, Wednesday June 1, 2022 at the International Conference Center, Abuja, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development Arc Olamilekan Adegbite yesterday, led the Inter Ministerial Steering Committee of the Conference to welcome delegates consisting of Federal Ministers of participating African countries, mineral sector investors, captains of associated industry and various governmental representatives at ministerial and directorate levels.
Arc Olamilekan Adegbite welcomed the delegates including the ministers of mines from Tanzania, Kenya, Libya, Zimbabwe and Chad among others, some of who are being represented by Deputy Ministers and Director Generals at Federal Levels. The delegates from over ten countries have already arrived Nigeria for the conference.
It is pertinent to note that the conference, which is a collaborative effort of Nigeria’s Federal Ministries of Petroleum Resources, Environment, Mines and Steel Development, Trade and Investment, and Power, aim to create a platform for participating countries to share knowledge and experience on how to change from fossils oil to energy minerals, a development that will attract global investment to the Nigerian energy minerals sector.
In a brief speech, Arc Olamilekan Adegbite welcomed the participants and enjoined them to look forward to very resourceful paper presentations and brainstorms.
Today June 1, 2022, highly resourceful paper presentations will be delivered by experts within the respective sectors, with a view to share knowledge needed to realize the set goal of changing from fossils oil to energy minerals in Africa.
The Director, Investment Promotion and Minerals Trade, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Yunusa Muhammed told THE TRUTH that the conference is an effort of the Federal Government of Nigeria to advance from the use of fossil energy to green energy, saying that ‘Nigerian government officials have attended conferences centered on development of green energy.’
‘Green energy is now being used in electric cars and phones and so many other modern devices and appliances.’
‘So, the conference is a strategy to develop green energy resources of Nigeria,’ he said.
‘Nigeria is a big brother in Africa, so the Federal Government decided to convene a conference with other African countries to pursue the advantage of charting the way forward for the development of green metals, a task that can be pursued together with other countries in the continent.’
He said green metals are also known as energy minerals.
Discussing the importance of the inter-ministerial collaboration for the international conference, the Director of Minerals Promotion who served as Secretary to the National Integrated Minerals Exploration Project (NIMEP), noted that fossil energy is under the purview of the petroleum resources while energy minerals have to do with the ministry of mines and steel development.
‘So, you would observe that there is a connection that necessitates the collaboration of various institutional stakeholders, and that is why we are bringing the public together to discuss a way forward as a team,’ he said.
