The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Oladele Alake has reaffimed Federal governments commitment to grow the Solid mineral sector to make it a major contributor to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product ( GDP) .
Alake disclosed this when he received a delegation of the Miners Association of Nigeria, led by their National President, Mr Dele Ayanleke. The delegation comprised representatives of the VUKA group, co- organizer of the forthcoming Nigeria Mining Week and Price Waterhouse Coopers, foremost accounting firm.
While commending the Association for it’s recommendations and consistent role in organising the Mining Week; Alake stated that Nigeria has been operating mono- cultural economy for long noting that the shift to solid minerals is overdue.
He said: ” our vision is to make solid minerals our pride, a major contributor to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product.”
To this end,the Minister emphasised that the Ministry is committed to making requisite policies that will sanitise and rejig the regulatory framework and to make it more conducive for local and foreign investors to play”.
In a statement by Head Press and PR of the Ministry, Alaba Balogun, the Minister stressed that on the issue of incursion into mining by the second tier of government, the Federal Government, will engage the state government and local government with a view to resolving surrounding issues within the ambit of the law.
Speaking on securing the mining sector environment for maximum yield to the Federal government, the Minister revealed that high-end technology will be deployed coupled with inter-agency taskforce to arrest the menace completely. He therefore, sought partnership with the Miners Association of Nigeria to strengthen capacity in this regard for the growth and repositioning of the sector.
In his earlier remarks, the National President of Miners Association of Nigeria, Mr Dele Ayanleke, expressed absolute assurance that the seven point agenda unfolded by the Minister of Solid Minerals under the renewed hope agenda of this present administration will consolidate and enhance the sector for maximum contribution to national development.
