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From Priscilla Ediare, Ado Ekiti
A former House of Assembly aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State, Hon Ayodeji Adarabierin, has urged the new Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Mr Dele Alake, to ensure thorough exploitation of mineral resources in the country.
Adarabierin who said no doubt Nigeria is richly endowed with mineral resources, charged the Minister on optimal exploitation of mineral deposits in Ekiti State, his state of origin, to boost its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and in the country, to improve her economy.
Adarabierin made the remarks when he spoke with newsmen in Ado-Ekiti on the state of the nation, where he also charged President Bola Tinubu to fix all the refineries and ensure stable power supply in the country.
Setting agenda for the Minister, Adarabierin said, “I want to thank president Tinubu for the confidence reposed in him. Alake is a known person to us . He was once a senatorial aspirant in the state in 2011. We want to appeal to him to start coming home, now that the ministerial slot of Ekiti has gone to him and we want to see his impact in the state.
“Fortunately, his local government of origin, Ijero-Ekiti, has the largest deposit of mineral resources in Ekiti State, so we will not expect anything less from the minister to ensure that all the mineral resources deposited in his local government, other parts of the state and indeed across Nigeria are exploited to the benefit of all and sundry.
“Thankfully, a law has been passed by the National Assembly on derivation for places with mineral resources like those in the Niger Delta area geo political zone, so if these mineral resources are exploited it will help in shoring up our Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in Ekiti State and the country at large and employment will also be generated. I am sure Mr President is looking in that direction to tap into the available mineral resources and the blue economy to attract more foreign direct investments to the country. We enjoined Alake to take advantage of all of these and make sure Ekiti benefits immensely during his time.”
On how the federal government can tackle the current economic challenges in the country, he said, “Firstly, our refineries have to be fixed, once this is done the marginal cost of fuel, transportation and importation will be reduced.
“Nigeria will be consuming what it is producing, that is, it won’t be a case of our crude oil being sent abroad for refining and sent back to be sold to us at higher cost. I read recently that the Port Harcourt refinery will commence operation before the end of the year and we hope and pray that Warri refinery too will soon start working.
“Although, the two refineries are operating below capacity, they were constructed over forty years ago when our population was still under 100 million but now we are over 200 million, but when they start working to full capacity, that will help in cushioning the effects of fuel importation.”
The party chieftain also identified the pressure on Foreign Exchange (FOREX) as one of the major problems of the nation’s economy, hinging this on the use of US dollars for the importation of fuel.
“If we start producing locally, the pressure on forex will be reduced drastically, there won’t be any need for Central Bank of Nigeria to be searching for dollars to import fuel again and this will improve our ailing economy.”
Underscoring the importance of power and the need for the federal government to ensure its stability, he said, “it will revitalize our manufacturing companies and help us to produce what we can consume in the country.
“It is sad that over 70% of what we are consuming now are being imported. This is not good for our economy, our country has been turned to a dumping site and we are just consuming as nation but not producing.
“We will continue to have deficit balance of trade, since our imports are higher than our exports, there will be pressure on the forex that is what is affecting our naira. With stable electricity, cottage and manufacturing companies will spring up. Sometime ago we heard that over 400 companies have closed down and others relocated to another countries. We have raw materials for textile industries in the country but almost all of them have ceased to exist because of the issue of power. If the power is fixed, consumption and demand for fuel, diesel will reduce and industries will be stabilized, employment will be generated, internally generated revenue will increase and by this economy will boom.”
