By Victoria Onehi
To enable Nigerian youth acquire skills, become employers of labour and generate revenue for nation, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, has reiterated Federal Government’s resolve to explore jewellery making in Nigeria.
Rather than exporting the raw materials abroad, he said, that everything would be done to process the abundant resources to finished products of jewellery and gemstone.
The Minister spoke to journalists in Abuja after inspecting finished jewellery products and facilities at the Laurel School of Mines Jewellery Centre under the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development.
He inspected the Centre with students undergoing training alongside the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr Mary Ogbe, and other key staff of the Ministry.
Despite the Ministry yet to receive warrant for expenditure for the 2025 Budget, the Minister assured that plans are on to ensure every aspect of the Solid Minerals contributes positively to the Nigerian economy.
He said: “With this centre now, it’s encouraging to begin to attract jewellery making factories and gemstone factories. And we are going to do that.
“And this centre will be like a reservoir, a pool from where experts will be drawn to service those factories that will be coming up. So this is a very, very significant centre.” he said.
According to the Minister in a statement by Deputy Director/Head of Press and Public Relations Department,Kania Maliki Andeyaba, the Center is already contributing to the solid mineral sector through value addition.
“And this is one of the things that we said earlier on. We are going to improve every sector of the solid mineral space. This center is training people who are going on to train and to actually work and that’s part of the local value addition we’re talking about.
“The center is doing processing, cutting all the value chain of jewelry making and that’s what we have seen here.
“So what more way can you contribute to the economy than actually producing something from our raw materials in Nigeria. Rather than taking those raw materials out for finished products, they are now being finished right here, which is a value addition.
“That’s a significant contribution to the economy, it’s going to generate employment, more production and of course more revenue and then more taxes for government as well and then people will get engaged.”
On her part, the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Mary Ogbe, noted that the products from the Center can compete favorably with anyone produced abroad.
She said:”I came into the sector and met the program already on and all I can say is that it’s getting better. You can see that mining is being more standardised and can compare to any one produced from any part of the world.
“So I can only say that we are making steady progress. And you saw the technology inside. They are getting very latest technologies to make sure that the quality of their products can compare to anywhere in the world. So I can just say that it’s been advancing.”
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Laurel School of Mines, Mr.Tope Adebanjo said that the support by the Ministry to the Center has been unbelievable.
He said: “Well I’m excited, the minister came, and you could see the Permanent Secretary, and they have been very, very supportive, honestly. It’s unbelievable.”
The jewellery training, he said, is being done through the collaboration of staff comprising Nigerians and Sri Lankas.
“There are Nigerians and Sri Lankas, so we have been collaborating and we have been doing the magic.”he said
On how long the students take to graduate, he said “Three months, twelve weeks. A few days to their graduation, they are going to Kano, funded by the government, to basically see people that have been doing this for over 30 years, 45 years.
“They didn’t have this kind of opportunity because before they got to this place, they were given starter packs. So it’s not just that we train them and throw them into the market. They were given starter packs, what they are using here, were given to them so that they will be able to buy their bench and start production. So that’s part of what they are going to see in Kano in the next two weeks.”
He also said the Center is looking forward to catching children for the training programme, saying “Yes, like I said, we are looking at even the teenagers, because I was in Dubai,I had a girl of 10 years old as my classmate. So we really want to catch them young too.”
Some students undergoing training at the Center also shared their experiences and how the training has changed their lives.
A student, Samson Haruna, said the training has been worthwhile.”It has been full of experiences that money cannot pay. I remember when we started with master’s training, it was very advanced.
“But gradually, it became an eye-opener for us. We discovered that beyond the bench work, we can go into the marketing of this business, we can sell gemstones, we can also add value to whatsoever thing we have.
“We can add value to minerals that are gotten in places around Nigeria, like Plateau State, Nasarawa State, Niger State.It’s just something I can’t summarise in words.”
Samson urged other Nigerian youth to seize the opportunity and learn the skill of Jewelry making. “We have an opportunity to be pioneers in this industry. We’ve seen a lot that oil and gas have done, we’ve seen what other aspects of the economy have done.The President Ahmed Tinubu government have decided that the solid mineral sector should be developed through value addition.Its an area to venture into.”
Omachile Abraham representing Nasarawa State, also a student of the Center, said the last three months of the advanced training at Laurel School of Mines, courtesy Ministry of Solid Minerals has been monumental. It has been a wonderful experience.
“We came here earlier last year knowing nothing about jewelry making, but now we are here in the advanced class and we’ve learned techniques, we’ve learned so many things that money can’t buy.
“I can tell you for a fact that money can’t buy everything that we’ve learned here and we are still learning. So it has really been a wonderful experience so far.”
“So the jewelry industry is one that is fast growing, is still coming up. So I would urge Nigerians out there to develop interest in jewelry making. It’s a wonderful industry and I believe that over time, in 10 years time, we wouldn’t believe the value that the jewelry makiing industry is going to give to the Nigerian economy.
“And I believe personally that the jewelry industry is a goldmine, good to say, that just like the petroleum industry, the jewelry industry has so much capacity as the petroleum industry.” She said .
