The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Mines and Steel
Development, has secured $150million (N45.7 billion) support from the
World Bank for the Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification
(MSSED or MinDiver) programme.
The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, who
disclosed this in Abuja on Monday, said the Ministry is working with the
Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, the Nigerian Stock Exchange and
other institutions to assemble a $600million investment fund for the
sector, by first quarter of 2017.
The Minister stated this in his 2016 End of year Ministerial Briefing and
Projections for Year 2017, at the conference room of the Ministry. The
event was attended by the Minister of State for Mines and Steel
Development, Hon Abubakar Bawa Bwari and the Permanent Secretary of the
Ministry, Mohammed Abbas.
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Dr Fayemi said: “We have secured support from the World Bank for the
funding of $150mn Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification
((Economic Diversification MSSED or MinDiver) program, adding that “a
critical component of the support is to provide technical assistance for
the restructuring and operationalisation of the Solid Minerals Development
Mining Investment Fund, which would make finance available to ASM
operators through development finance, micro-finance and leasing
institutions.
The Minister spoke of plans for the mining sector new year, at the event
which also featured the commissioning of 38 surveillance vehicles bought
for mines officers, valued at about N322 million.
He said “The fund will also help to bring back on stream previously
abandoned proven mining projects like tin ore, iron ore, coal, gold and
lead-zinc among others.”
Dr Fayemi said the sector has witnessed some positive developments and
productivity in the last one year, including a major improvement in the
ministry’s contribution to the Federation Account to about N2 billion n in
2016, up from N700M in 2015.
He added that increased productivity in the mining space had also led to
significant discovery of mineral deposits, notably the large find of
high-grade nickel a few months ago in Dangoma, Kaduna State by an
Australian mining company operating in Nigeria.
Fayemi, further revealed that government had constructed 10 Prototype
Mineral Buying Centres across the country for specific strategic
industrial minerals.
“The centres are to serve as standardisation centres to enable ASM
Cooperatives and operators receive fair premium for their labour. With
renewed determination to strengthen collaborative efforts with State
governments in natural resource governance, the PMBCs are being ceded to
state governments” he said
Dr Fayemi recalled that he had identified some challenges , including lack
of geological data, weak institutional capacity and limited supporting
infrastructure during his inaugural ministerial briefing on December 21,
2015, said he the ministry has recorded some remarkable achievements in
tackling those challenges.
The Minister also inaugurated the Mining Implementation Strategy
Team(MIST). Composition to be chaired by the Chairman, Nigerian Mining and
Geosciences Society, Prof. Olugbenga Okunlola and Coordinated by the
Special Adviser to the Minister on Policy and Strategy Prof. Okey
Onyejekwe.
Presenting their Terms of Reference (TOR) the Minister said “these
includes developing a logical framework matrix that spells out
priorities,key performance indicators (KPIs),targets/benchmarks,time lines
and result based action plans.
Others include developing a framework for monitoring and evaluating the
implementation process and progress, developing resource base
mobilisation, developing accountability framework and communication
strategy for communicating the implementation process and progress.
While commissioning the surveillance vehicles, the Minister who remarked
that that was the first time the ministry would procure such a large fleet
of surveillance vehicles, urged the Mines Officers to use the vehicles and
other surveillance gadgets to ensure effective inspection of mines
activities.
The commissioning was witnessed by the Minister of State, Hon. Abubakar
Bawa Bwari, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr. Mohammed Abbas;
the Wife of Kebbi State Governor, Hajia Zainab Atiku Bagudu; and
Commissioner for Commerce, Zamfara State, Hajia Fatima Umaru Shinkafi.
The Minister said: “The execution of this vehicle procurement project is
therefore a clear demonstration of the commitment of this administration
to our strategic goal of repositioning the Mining sector for greater
productivity. One of our objectives is to strengthen our ministry with the
requisite capacity and capabilities to deliver on our mandate to
effectively regulate the sector”, he added.
Fayemi stated that the fleet of vehicles cost Government about N322
Million, which is no small expenditure in view of competing priorities.
He said the purchase of the vehicles has successfully addressed the
challenge of the absence of logistical support for field operations of the
technical departments of the Ministry. The progress will result in scaling
up the capacity of the departments for effective discharge of their
statutory duties and functions.
The Minster said beginning from January 2017, he expect to start seeing
the positive impact of the investment in terms of increased revenue
generation, reduction in number of illegal mining incidences, fewer cases
of conflicts arising from mining activities, and timely rendering of
periodic reports of mining activities from respective field stations.
He warned officers to use the vehicles strictly for the official duties
they are meant for and on no reason should the vehicles be used for
unofficial purposes except with express approval. He said to discourage
arbitrary use of the vehicles other than the discharge of official duties,
the vehicles have been installed with tracking devices that will enable
the Ministry monitor their movements centrally from Abuja. That any
officer that runs afoul of the ethical use of the vehicles shall be dealt
with in accordance with relevant Civil Service Rules.
The Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development Hon. Abubakar Bawa
Bwari in a vote of thanks commended the Dr. Fayemi for the passion shorn
for the mining industry, the National Assembly for their understanding and
cooperation for the industry, the Security Agencies for their cooperation
and all stakeholders especially the International partners and Agencies
and the Media for their support