Acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo has restated the commitment of the Federal Government to diversify and grow the economy through the mining sector.
He said that growth currently being recorded in the sector was an indication that Buhari-led government was on the right path.
Speaking, while declaring open the inaugural National Mining Summit in Abuja, on Tuesday, Osinbajo said that “creating an enabling environment remained the central element of the government’s economic goal”.
He added that government would strive to sustain the current growth in the mining sector and other sectors of the economy by creating enabling environment.
Prof Osinbajo also said government would work with other African countries to achieve its target economic growth.
He assured that government is committed to ensuring that the sector is properly funded to attain its goals.
“The N30 billion intervention fund recently approved for the sector from the National Resource Fund, is to assist the mining operators have access to grants, just as the N600 million being packaged for the sector by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE)”, he disclosed
Osinbajo added that with more support and the right environment, the mining sector would be able to contribute more to the GDP as government envisaged that investment in the sector would have reached $27 billion by 2025.
Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi saidthe sector is working towards achieving this goal, stressing that is achievable in view of the abundance of mineral resources.
He said the country would focus on the seven minerals it considered strategic, including Coal, Bitumen, Iron Ore, limestone, barite, gold, lead zinc, adding that the recently discovered nickel would soon join the list.
His words: “We however realise that we cannot go very far with our agenda if we do not feature strongly in the reckoning of the international mining community as a serious mining destination.
“We are thus enlisting critical stakeholders domestically and globally as enablers of our vision, while providing the conditions for the creation of shared value for all stakeholders and participants in our jurisdiction.
“Similarly, most countries in the West-African sub-region have since developed country-level strategies, and we have reports of the achievements that are already being recorded under the stewardship of my ministerial counterparts.
“We therefore consider it important to have a platform for bringing stakeholders in the sub-region together, to share ideas and compare notes on how to collaborate in making our resources work for our people.
“This is why our ministry has partnered with Afrocet Montgomery, working with Deloitte, to host CONMIN West Africa, in demonstration of our commitment to signalling the renaissance of our mining sector, and to naturally take the lead in driving the achievement of the objectives of the AMV, collectively and at country level.
“It is our vision to use this annual conference as a platform to place Nigeria prominently in the international mining calendar, and beneficially attract greater attention to our country and sub-region”, Fayemi added.
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