From John Bassey, Gusau
The Executive Governor of Zamfara State, Dr. Dauda Lawal, has laid out plans to leverage the solid mineral deposits in the state via partnership with private sectors to raise the state’s internally Generated Revenue, IGR.
He disclosed this while in a brief interview with Journalists at his office in Gusau the state capital
The Governor expressed regret that, despite the state’s abundant deposits of solid minerals, it is currently not generating any revenue from them.
He noted that the Federal Government’s lifting of the ban on solid minerals had given him the opportunity to engage with investors who could help develop the sector and boost the state’s revenue.
“I am happy now that the Federal Government has lifted the ban on solid minerals, and if you follow the trend, just last month we had a meeting with some private sectors that has investment in Zamfara State.
“That is exactly what we are doing now to try to bring the private sectors to invest in the solid minerals aspect in collaboration with the state government as well as the Federal Government, and if that works out well, it means additional revenue for Zamfara State as well as the Federal Government.
“But as we speak now, there is no single revenue as far as solid minerals are concerned that is coming to Zamfara State, which is unfortunate.”
The governor is optimistic that once investments in solid minerals begin to yield results, Zamfara will no longer need to rely on allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) to cover its expenses.
“And part of what I am doing now under my administration is to really look at this holistically and begin to put all the mechanisms in place and bring investors in Zamfara State that will be able to invest in solid minerals.
“By the time we do that, I don’t think we will be relying on FAAC anymore, we will be more than comfortable so as to develop Zamfara State and move the state forward,” he said.