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By Merit Ibe
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development have called for more investments in the country’s mining sector to realise non-oil economic potentials and boost the export capacity.
Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, who spoke at the mining and solid minerals conference in Lagos, with the theme: “Solid Minerals: The Foreign Exchange Game Changer,” said the sector had been neglected in the conversation regarding the need to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on oil and gas. He urged the financial industry to take a plunge into the investments opportunities in the mining sector to impact the nation’s economy positively, noting that a sustainable and well governed mining sector with good investment inflows was key to a diversified economy beyond oil in the present economic environment.
Adegbite, however, said the success of rebuilding of the industry to achieve the transformational ambition for shared mining prosperity depended on the participation of all stakeholders, including the vibrant financing community. He noted that the National Integrated Mineral Exploration Programme (NIMEP), an initiative of government, which was at an advanced stage, would provide reliable geo-data for investment decision-making.
According to him, the programme has further exposed investment opportunities in gold, lead, zinc, battery minerals, barite, and iron ore.
President, LCCI, Dr Michael Olawale-Cole, said the theme was to facilitate stakeholders’ dialogue among federal regulatory agencies, financial institutions and industry practitioners from the mining sector to discuss the untapped opportunities in the sector.
This, he said, could elevate the sector to become a major foreign exchange earner for the government.
“A recent report by the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) indicates that revenue from the solid minerals sector to the Federation Account rose by 54 per cent in 2020 to N128 billion compared to N75 billion recorded in 2019.
“The fourth quarter (Q4) 2021 report on foreign trade by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the value of total trade in solid minerals in Q4, 2021 stood at N43.37 billion representing 0.37 per cent of total trade in Q4, 2021.
“Solid minerals exports in Q4, 2021 stood at N13.56billion, a decrease of 25.95 per cent compared to Q3, 2021 but increase by 201.41 per cent when compared to the corresponding quarter of 2020.
“These are confirmations about the potential in the solid minerals sector yet untapped,” he said.
Olawale-Cole recommended the need to address issues of fragmented legislative framework of the 1999 Constitution.
He also stressed the need to establish a robust fiscal framework for investors and address the bottlenecks due to the multi-agencies regulatory structure in the sector.
Chairman, Solid Minerals and Allied Services Group of LCCI, Otunba Babatunde Alatise, said: “I am deeply worried, but not surprised about the consistent and unrelenting activities of illegal miners across Nigeria.
“It must be a cause for great concern for any reasonable Nigerian, especially now that crude oil is hovering between zero dollar and below cost price.
“Obviously, the diversification drive of the Federal Government is geared towards agriculture and solid minerals, and the recent upsurge in illegal mining activities is a threat to the N20 billion GDP target set out by the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, who is taking the bull by the horns.”
Alatise, who is also member of the ministerial committee on the optimisation of revenue from mineral resources by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development in Nigeria, said he was very worried and concerned about the fact that his industry is being trivialised by lack of decisive action on the part of the Federal Government.
