The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Mines and Steel
\nDevelopment, \u00a0has secured $150million (N45.7 billion) support from the
\nWorld Bank for the Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification
\n(MSSED or MinDiver) programme.<\/p>\n
The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, who
\ndisclosed this in Abuja on Monday, said the Ministry is working with the
\nNigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, the Nigerian Stock Exchange and
\nother institutions to assemble\u00a0 a $600million investment fund for the
\nsector, by first quarter of 2017.<\/p>\n
The Minister stated this in his 2016 End of year Ministerial Briefing and
\nProjections for Year 2017, at the conference room of the Ministry. The
\nevent was attended by the Minister of State for Mines and Steel
\nDevelopment, Hon Abubakar Bawa Bwari and the Permanent Secretary of the
\nMinistry, Mohammed Abbas.
\n.
\nDr Fayemi said: \u201cWe have secured support from the World Bank for the
\nfunding of $150mn \u00a0Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification
\n((Economic Diversification MSSED or MinDiver) program, adding that \u201ca
\ncritical component of the support is to provide technical assistance for
\nthe restructuring and operationalisation of the Solid Minerals Development
\nMining Investment Fund, which would make finance available to ASM
\noperators through development finance, micro-finance and leasing
\ninstitutions.<\/p>\n
The Minister spoke of plans for the mining sector new year, at the event
\nwhich also featured the commissioning of 38 surveillance vehicles bought
\nfor mines officers, valued at about N322 million.<\/p>\n
He said \u201cThe fund will also help to bring back on stream previously
\nabandoned proven mining projects like tin ore, iron ore, coal, gold and
\nlead-zinc among others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Fayemi said the sector has witnessed some positive developments and
\nproductivity \u00a0in the last one year, including a major improvement in the
\nministry\u2019s contribution to the Federation Account to about N2 billion n in
\n2016, up from N700M in 2015.<\/p>\n
He added that\u00a0 increased productivity in the\u00a0 mining space had also led to
\nsignificant discovery of mineral deposits, notably the large find of
\nhigh-grade nickel a few months ago in Dangoma, Kaduna State by an
\nAustralian mining company operating in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Fayemi, further revealed that government had constructed 10 Prototype
\nMineral Buying Centres across the country for specific strategic
\nindustrial minerals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe centres are to serve as standardisation centres to enable ASM
\nCooperatives and operators receive fair premium for their labour. With
\nrenewed determination to strengthen collaborative efforts with State
\ngovernments in natural resource governance, the PMBCs are being ceded to
\nstate governments\u201d he said<\/p>\n
Dr Fayemi recalled that he had identified some challenges , including lack
\nof geological data, weak institutional capacity and limited supporting
\ninfrastructure during his inaugural ministerial briefing on December 21,
\n2015, said he the ministry has recorded some remarkable achievements in
\ntackling those challenges.<\/p>\n
The Minister also inaugurated the Mining Implementation Strategy
\nTeam(MIST). Composition to be chaired by the Chairman, Nigerian Mining and
\nGeosciences Society, Prof. Olugbenga Okunlola and Coordinated by the
\nSpecial Adviser to the Minister on Policy and Strategy Prof. Okey
\nOnyejekwe.<\/p>\n
Presenting their Terms of Reference (TOR) the Minister said \u201cthese
\nincludes developing a logical framework matrix that spells out
\npriorities,key performance indicators (KPIs),targets\/benchmarks,time lines
\nand result based action plans.<\/p>\n
Others include developing a framework for monitoring and evaluating the
\nimplementation process and progress, developing resource base
\nmobilisation, developing accountability framework and communication
\nstrategy for communicating the implementation process and progress.<\/p>\n
While commissioning the surveillance vehicles, the Minister who remarked
\nthat that was the first time the ministry would procure such a large fleet
\nof surveillance vehicles, urged the Mines Officers to use the vehicles and
\nother surveillance gadgets to ensure effective inspection of mines
\nactivities.<\/p>\n
The commissioning was witnessed by \u00a0the Minister of State, Hon. Abubakar
\nBawa Bwari, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr. Mohammed Abbas;
\nthe Wife of Kebbi State Governor, Hajia Zainab Atiku Bagudu; and
\nCommissioner for Commerce, Zamfara State, Hajia Fatima Umaru Shinkafi.<\/p>\n
The Minister said: \u201cThe execution of this vehicle procurement project is
\ntherefore a clear demonstration of the commitment of this administration
\nto our strategic goal of repositioning the Mining sector for greater
\nproductivity. One of our objectives is to strengthen our ministry with the
\nrequisite capacity and capabilities to deliver on our mandate to
\neffectively regulate the sector\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n
Fayemi stated that the fleet of vehicles cost Government about N322
\nMillion, which is no small expenditure in view of competing priorities.
\nHe said the purchase of the vehicles has successfully addressed the
\nchallenge of the absence of logistical support for field operations of the
\ntechnical departments of the Ministry. The progress will result in scaling
\nup the capacity of the departments for effective discharge of their
\nstatutory duties and functions.<\/p>\n
The Minster said beginning from January 2017, he expect to start seeing
\nthe positive impact of the investment in terms of increased revenue
\ngeneration, reduction in number of illegal mining incidences, fewer cases
\nof conflicts arising from mining activities, and timely rendering of
\nperiodic reports of mining activities from respective field stations.<\/p>\n
He warned officers to use the vehicles strictly for the official duties
\nthey are meant for and on no reason should the vehicles be used for
\nunofficial purposes except with express approval. He said to discourage
\narbitrary use of the vehicles other than the discharge of official duties,
\nthe vehicles have been installed with tracking devices that will enable
\nthe Ministry monitor their movements centrally from Abuja. That any
\nofficer that runs afoul\u00a0 of the ethical use of the vehicles shall be dealt
\nwith in accordance with relevant Civil Service Rules.<\/p>\n
The Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development Hon. Abubakar Bawa
\nBwari in a vote of thanks commended the Dr. Fayemi for the passion shorn
\nfor the mining industry, the National Assembly for their understanding and
\ncooperation for the industry, the Security Agencies for their cooperation
\nand all stakeholders especially the International partners and Agencies
\nand the Media for their support<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, \u00a0has secured $150million (N45.7 billion) support from the World Bank for the Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification (MSSED…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n