Modalities are being worked out to begin the disbursement of the N5 billion Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF) to successful miners as soon as possible, Minister of Mines and Steel Development (MMSD), Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite has said.
The Minister made the disclosure Tuesday while fielding questions from the audience at a briefing in his office ahead of the 2019 Mining Week Conference and exhibition scheduled to hold from 14th to 16th October, 2019 in Abuja.
The money is domiciled in the Bank of Industry (BOI) since 2016 was a contribution by both the ministry and BOI to provide funding for speedy development of a private-driven mining industry in Nigeria.
“I admit that 3 years down the line, the money is yet to be disbursed as was expected, and the purpose for which the SMDF was put together in 2016 was to help mainly artisan miners develop.
“But the good thing about that is that the money is intact; only one disbursement to the tune of about N95 million has been made to a quarry in Oyo State,” he said.
The Minister said the problem militating against its disbursement is how to design a model that will work effectively.
“There is this tendency to see government money as a share of the national cake, and we are being careful not to throw away government money.
“We are encouraging the miners to go into cooperatives through which they will be able to access the money easily and at very low interest as it was meant.
“In that way, when one or two members of a cooperative group take the money, they have to return so that others can take in their turn, thus other members will put pressure on them to pay back so they too can access. So it going to be a peer pressure thing.
“We are also thinking of equipment leasing; we want to use part of the fund to acquire equipment that will be placed at strategic places across the country for the miners to access and use for their mining operations.
“I can guarantee that in no distant time you will see the money in action,” he said.
