By Yemi Olakitan
Minister of Mining and Steel Development, Lekan Adegbite, has stressed the necessity of de-risking the mining industry in order to draw both domestic and foreign investment.
In an interview with Arise News yesterday morning, he emphasised that mining is a very dangerous business, so the government needs to de-risk that industry by investing its own money in exploration and data acquisition so that such data would attract people to the sector.
He did, however, add that President Muhammadu Buhari had already taken a significant step, particularly in 2017.
Mining’s contribution to GDP: According to the minister, mining now makes a much larger contribution to GDP than it did in the past.
In his opinion, the input in terms of budgetary allocation greatly influences the outcome we are witnessing in the sector.
He stated: “You have to understand that every step is the first of a thousand-mile journey. When compared to what the mining industry contributed 10 years ago, there has been a significant increase. In contrast to then, when we were doing less than a billion, we are now doing ten billion.
“Actually, the input would justify the output. Look at the sort of exploration budget we have in petroleum; it is billions of dollars. However, the best we achieved under President Muhammadu Buhari was $100 million, which was equivalent to N30 billion at the time. Currently, some effort is being made in mining. The more we de-risk the industry, the more interested investors will enter and start to deliver, so we could do a lot more of it.”
He stated that the miniswais collaborating with security to close any gaps and prevent illegal actions from ever occurring.
“Legal corporate entities are starting to operate in the area. They give the government a lot of money in the form of remittances. The unlawful residents of that area will be driven out if there are many more of these legitimate residents. Any area supplied to a legal entity is jealously guarded by that entity, which lessens our responsibility.
“Since Nigeria is a huge country, I must truly accept that there is some illicit activity there. I also can’t come here and claim that we have the resources to prevent this because we can’t be everywhere at once. However, no matter where we receive a warning, we are aware of our duty to remove them, detain those in the country illegally, and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.”
He added that a transaction counsel chosen through a formalised bidding procedure is most suited to provide the greatest guidance.
“We currently have roughly 11 persons, six of whom are foreigners and five locals, however, these foreigners also have local spouses. Each of them has a unique plan, which the transaction adviser will review, rank, and ultimately suggest to the government as the best course of action. Therefore, we do not yet have a preferred bidder, and the process we have begun will hopefully be finished by the end of March,” he said.
