Author: Martha Agas

Minerals
By Martha Agas
Abuja, June 2, 2024 (NAN) “The ministry is determined to ensure that the solid minerals sector’s contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) surpasses that of oil.”

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

He said that the administration of President Bola Tinubu was putting in place policies and initiatives aimed at diversifying the economy and ensuring that it generates more revenue than oil in the near future.

He said that the move was necessary, especially with the global upsurge of energy transition, which would reduce the demand of oil.

“We have been totally dependent on oil for decades, everyone has been dependent on the free flow of petrol dollars on the economy.

“And the critical sector of the economy such as agriculture and solid minerals was neglected.

“Our objective is to make the solid minerals contribution to the GDP to surpass oil.

“By the time all our policy initiatives goes through the gestation period and begins to manifest results, the revenue that will be accruing to Nigeria from this sector would be enormous.

“We are going to recover trillions to the coffers of the Nigerian government and for the benefit of Nigerians at large” he said.

He said that Nigeria possesses the critical minerals in commercial quantities across its states needed for energy transition, which the ministry was aggressively marketing to attract big players to invest in the sector.

“ We embarked on an aggressive marketing to unlocking the richness of the potential, making sure we push out information on the number of minerals that we have, the type and their demand nationally and internationally, ” he said.

According to him, negotiations are on going with an auditing firm to audit the sector aimed at sanitising it to ensure the appropriate accruals to boost the country’s GDP.

“As we speak, we are far in our negotiations with an auditing firm to come and audit the entire sector, because we have lost a lot of money in the past.

“ We know that operators will under declare what they are carting away, even the payment of royalties, they under pay, taxes they evade.

“So we are in the process of engaging internationally recognised auditing firm that has done the same thing in other parts of the world, in more than 20 countries.

“ So that they come and help us recover lost revenue and put some measures in place going forward so that we will no longer loose revenue.

“We are going to recover trillions to the coffers of the Nigerian government and for the benefit of Nigerians at large, “ he said.

NAN recalls that the minister had said that a German company, Geo Scan, conducted a preliminary survey that indicates that Nigeria has 750 billion Dollars’ worth of solid minerals underground, which had not been harnessed. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng) MAA/EEE

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Edited by Ese E. Eniola Williams

Surveillance
By Martha Agas
Abuja, June 2, 2024 (NAN) Dr Dele Alake, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, says the Federal Government will deploy technology for the surveillance of mining sites across the country.

Alake said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

He said that the technology would be in addition to the 2,220 personnel of the Mining Marshal Corps drawn from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to combat illegal mining.

The corps deployed across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were also trained on modern warfare by the military to secure Nigeria’s natural resources.

“We are introducing some technology, we are not just relying on men and materials alone.

“The satellite surveillance gadgets we are putting in there is to enable us see in real time in all mining sites in Nigeria.

“So that when we notice any infraction, very quickly we can deploy the mining marshals to go there so we don’t even have to wait for any interpersonal communication.

” That reduces the time of knowledge and action. Right now we depend on people passing intelligence to us but when the satellite surveillance gadget is working, we will be able to see it ourselves.

“ Which is a step forward on the right direction”, he said.

The minister said that to attract investors to the sector, especially the big players, it was necessary to put in place policies and initiatives aimed at securing their investments.

“We needed to put in place policy measures to ensure that when these investors come, they are not just coming into the darkness that we had here before.

“They will ask some questions, what is the security of their operating environment, their investment, personnel and the ease of doing business in Nigeria and the sector”, he said.

He said that the administration of President Bola Tinubu inherited a lot of security challenges such as banditry, kidnapping and terrorism, which were associated with the solid mineral sector.

He explained that most mining activities were in the forests, where such crimes were being perpetrated.

He said that the administration of Tinubu was determined to sanitise the sector, and reposition it to contribute significantly to Nigeria`s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) .

According to the minister, concerted efforts are being deployed to curb the menace with other government agencies, such as the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), the Nigerian Army and the Police for rapid result.

“I had a meeting with Inspector General of Police on this issue and he is willing to give us more men to support those that we have on ground.

“Even the EFCC is cooperating with us, they are also arresting, the army also enumerated the number of illegal miners that they have arrested, it is a holistic effort cutting across all security agencies.

“But the mine marshals are just the face of the security apparatus that we are putting in place to combat illegal mining,” he said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
MAA/EEE

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Edited by Ese E. Eniola Williams

Mining
By Martha Agas
Abuja, June 2, 2024 (NAN) The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, says that plans sre ongoing to increase the number of Mining Marshal Corps from 60 to 100.

The increase would be across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Alake said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

He said that the move was part of efforts of the Federal Government to secure the mining operating environment aimed at attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) to boost the economic profile of the country.

NAN reports that the Mining Marshal Corps inaugurated on March 21, were drawn from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to combat illegal mining.

The corps has 2,220 personnel, who have been specially trained by the military in modern warfare as a rapid response squad with 60 deployed across the 36 states and the FCT.

“We are looking at adding to the number to get a minimum of 100 in each state from the 60 on ground,” he said.

He said that the President Bola Tinubu`s administration was determined to sanitise the mining sector and reposition it by putting in place policy measures to attract big players to the sector.

Alake said that prospective investors would need assurance of the security of the operating environment, their investment, equipment and personnel.

The minister said that the insecurity situation at mining sites across the federation prompted the president to establish an inter-ministerial committee on Jan.17.

He explained that the committee was to produce a blue print for securing Nigeria`s natural resources, which comprised of mineral sites, marine economy and forests.

The minister, however, said that while deliberations were still on-going by the committee on producing a comprehensive security architecture for the natural resources, the mining marshal corps was established in the interim.

“Insecurity is rife in the forests where the solid minerals are deposited.

“The inter-ministerial efforts are ongoing as set up by the president but I couldn’t wait because of the criticality in curbing the illegality in the sector,” he said.

He said that the initiative was yielding the desired results, as more than 200 suspects had been arrested, with 133 being prosecuted and two foreigners convicted for illegal operations.

According to him, many requests are being received from states for the deployment of marshals in areas identified as sites of illegal mining due to their success.

“Every day, I receive requests from states asking for the deployment of these mining marshals to particular areas in their forests where they notice illegal operations going on.

“And they have gone inside the forests, the operating field to arrest, more than 200 have been arrested, about 133 are being prosecuted right now in various courts across the various states of the country.

“And recently, two foreign nationals were jailed, convicted of operating illegally in the mining sector in Nigeria”, he said. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
MAA/EEE

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Edited by Ese E. Eniola Williams

Centre
By Martha Agas
Abuja, June 2, 2024 (NAN) The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, says plans are ongoing by the Federal Government to establish six mineral centres in the six geo-political zones.

According to Alake. the aim is to boost the sector.

Alake said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

He said that the plan was part of the President Bola Tinubus administration's commitment to diversify the country's economy, by developing key sectors such as the solid minerals industry.

“Another one is the creation of six minerals centres in each of the six geo-political zones.

“We have our minerals all over the country and we cannot concentrate the mineral processing centres in one centre, and as we speak those plans are ongoing in the zones”, he said.

According to the Minister, the centres are also part of the government’s commitment to promote value addition to its minerals, aimed at facilitating multiplier effects on the economy.

NAN recalls that minister had announced that no licence would be granted to mining companies to operate without presenting a comprehensive plan for value addition such as processing and refining.

Alake said that investors in the past extracted raw mineral resources from Nigeria without adding value to them, which he described as a great loss to the country’s economy.

“Our lithium is one of the finest qualities in the world, and it has other associated minerals like nickel, cobalt, and copper.

“So when an operator takes an ounce of our Lithium out of Nigeria, perhaps he declares Lithium.

“ But when he gets to his host country, he now has other associated minerals to his gain and to the loss of Nigeria.

“So our major policy which we enacted is that, henceforth, we would no longer approve application from an investor that does not show us a concrete plan for local value addition.

“Which means processing here to add local value addition, and this will generate a multiplier effect like local employment, technology and skills transfer,” he said.

He said that the move was in line with plans to locally produce Electric Vehicle’s (EVs) batteries in Nigeria, which major ingredient is Lithium.

“Our objective here is to begin to produce EVs batteries which the ingredient is Lithium and other associated minerals, ” he said.

The Minister said that the local value addition policy had also been widely accepted by other African countries aimed at developing their local economies. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng) MAA/EEE

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Edited by Ese E. Eniola Williams