The Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development on Monday trained local miners in Plateau on its formalisation of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) policy.
Dr Oluwatoyin Akinlade, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, who declared the workshop open in Jos, said it was to acquaint local miners with the formalisation policy aimed at ensuring a more profitable venture in the mining industry.
Akinlade, who was represented by Alhaji Muhammad Suleiman, the Director of Human Resource Development of the ministry, said that exercise was part of government’s efforts toward repositioning the mining industry in the country.
She said that the formalisation policy would enable government give support to the mining sector, particularly the organised and formalised ASM operators.
The permanent secretary said that it would reduce the burden of poor financial investments in the sector by liaising with the Bank of Industry to provide approved floated credit facility for miners and interested organised artisanal mining cooperatives.
”ASM has been known to provide jobs and livelihoods to a great number of people around the world.
”A significant portion of Nigeria’s mineral production comes from the artisanal and small scale miners.
”The sub-sector is believed to have provided livelihood opportunities for about two million Nigerians.
”But these miners mostly use inappropriate or crude methods and very rudimentary tools to exploit minerals deposits.
”In this method, very little attention is paid to the environment, miners prefer instead to grab as much as they could while the environment is degraded,” she said.
Akinlade decried that most host communities were mostly left to live with the consequences of unwholesome activities of the local miners.
She also lamented the huge economic loss, air pollution and the security threats such activities had brought to the communities.
”The host communities for instance, are left to bear the negative externalities and the near absence of industrial mining in Nigeria coupled with the inefficiency of the ASM, explains the sector’s less than one per cent contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
”So, we have put together this workshop as part of our efforts to enthrone a vibrant and robust ASM sector in Nigeria,” she added.
Earlier, Gov. Simon Lalong, represented by Mr Gotan Benjamin, the Director of Mineral Resources in the Plateau Ministry of Mineral Development, described the exercise as ”apt”.
Lalong explained that the formalisation process would enable the miners in the state to do the right thing, thereby, generating more income for them and the state.
He said it would also address the challenge of environmental degradation.
Similarly, a lawmaker, Mr Dachung Bagos (PDP-Plateau), promised that the National Assembly would continue to support the government’s efforts aimed at bettering the lots of the common people.
Bagos, representing Jos South and Jos East Federal Constituency of the state, said that the initiative would further open new vistas of opportunities for both government and the people.
Sen. Davou Zang, the Chairman, Association of Miners in Plateau, thanked the Federal Government for the gesture, adding that the initiative would be of great benefit to the host communities in the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that over 500 miners, who participated in the workshop, were drawn from different parts of the state.
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