FG To Formulate New Mining Policy
Former Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy and currently the Minister of Solid Minerals Development Dr Oladele Alake has said imminent reforms in the mining industry will separate genuine businessmen interested in longterm and value-added investment from adventurers carting away raw minerals.
The minister said this in a press statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Segun Tomori, a copy of which was made available to Echonews.
According to the statement, the minister addressed the Mining Ministers Forum at the China Mining Week 2023 holding in Tianji, China on Thursday, where he said the new mineral development roadmap of the Federal Government would solve the lingering problems of the sector.
It said the proposed Nigerian Solid Minerals Development Company would mobilise domestic and international capital and technology to raise industrial capacity of the sector.
Stressing the importance of geological data to mining finance and exploration, Dr.Alake in the statement said the Tinubu administration would invest massively in critical data to make it easier to attract investors to the sector while putting in place social and governance standards to protect the environment.
The minister said the government is currently engaging artisanal miners to.join co-ooeratives to formalise labour and small enterprises in the sectort to widen access to training, extension services, machinery and credit.
He assured investors of orderly industrial environment adding thar the new security architecture for the sector will combine the formal agencies of enforcement with community safety organs to combat threats and protect miners.
Allaying the fears of interferences in mining operations by sub-national agencies, Dr Alake said the Tinubu administration has developed cordial relations between the federal and state governments and the ministry recently hosted the governors’ forum to resolve pertinent issues.
He advised prospective investors to include the industrial processing of minerals in their business plans adding that a new regime of compulsory value addition as investment condition will soon be in place.
