Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Oladele Alake says Nigeria’s abundant solid mineral resources will to revamp the nation’s economy, just as he affirmed that the present administration is shifting attention from hydro-carbon.
A statement from the Ministry, signed by the Head of Media, Alaba Balogun, said the Minister made the point when a delegation of Nigeria-China Chamber of Mines led by its National President, Dr. Olugbenga Ajala paid him a courtesy visit in his Office at the Ministry’s Headquarters in Abuja.
The Minister said the Ministry has initiated several deliberate policies and programmes which are geared towards achieving set objectives for economic prosperity as outlined in the roadmap that was recently released to the public.
According to him, the establishment of the Solid Minerals Corporation and promotion of public private ventures is crucial to these the objectives, adding that it will ensure sustainability, increase revenue accruable to government, with a significant contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He acknowledged the importance of security of investors, which according to him, is crucial to achieving the Ministry’s vision of repositioning and sanitizing the minerals sector for maximum contribution to the nation’s socio-economic development under the present administration’s renewed hope agenda.
To this end, he said the Ministry is committed to establishing a multi-agency task force that will end the activities of illegal miners and their collaborators. He said: ‘The government will come down firmly on these unscrupulous foreign operators sponsoring banditry to perpetrate illegal mining. Let me use this medium to appeal through you to tell those sponsors to desist or face the full wrath of the law.’
The Minister restated that the Government has given illegal miners 30-days grace, stressing, it is not a punitive measure but a way to formalize and make them legitimate. The minister explained that the aim is to streamline and structure Small Scale Artisanal Miners for maximum yield to the Federal Government.
Earlier, the National President, Nigeria-China Chamber of Mines, Dr. Olugbenga Ajala said the visit is to celebrate with the minister on his appointment, adding that the Chamber has made suggestions to the ministry in order to develop the sector for socio-economic development of the country. He said some of the ideas include improving data synergy between the Mining Cadastre Office and Nigeria Geological Survey Agency.
