The Hon. Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite has reaffirmed the determination of the federal government to enact policies that would help develop the solid mineral downstream industries that can add value to the mineral resources in the country.
The Minister made the affirmation while declaring open the first ever “Downstream mineral Workshop-A Value Chain Initiative” organised by the ministry in collaboration with with Lagos Business School (LBS) and the Mineral sector support for economic diversification (MINDIVER), a World Bank assisted project under the ministry in Abuja yesterday.
“We are resolved to enact policies to help develop the downstream industries that add value to our mineral resources by way of beneficiation, smelting and refining, etc.
“Our past experiences in the development of tin ore and coal value chain by the establishment of the defunct Makeri Smelting Company and Nigerian Coal Corporation with attendant infrastructural and employment generation coupled with the current exploit in our limestone exploitation for cement manufacturing are great pointers that our downstream mineral development is a possibility and can be sustained if deliberate policies are enacted and implemented.
“No doubt, the mineral downstream holds great opportunities for entrepreneurs from other sectors to participate in the mining value chain,” he said.
He said over a long stretch of time, Nigeria has been unwittingly exporting wealth and employment, by not adding value to the minerals.
“We are ready to change this narrative,” he said.
Charging participants to endeavour to have a fruitful deliberation, he said ” I expect a draft of clear policies that are implementable and enforceable at the end of this workshop.
As regards the importance of developing the mineral downstream sector, the Minister noted, “Mineral supply chains are essential to our everyday life, from the technology we use, our smartphones and computers, to the cars we drive and even the homes we live in.
“They are also crucial in our efforts to promote a more sustainable and inclusive growth. We are therefore taking a hard look at the potential for downstream processes to benefit from these enviable mineral resources.”
In his good will message, the Dean, Lagos Business School, who was represented at the workshop by a senior staff of the school, Dr Franklin Ngwu, expressed delight that the school was part of the collaboration aimed at harnessing the economic opportunities that abound in the mineral downstream sector.
He assured of the school’s support for the initiative, saying “Anything that needs to be done as regards training, policy conception, and the like to make the sector boom economically, be assured of our support.”
On his part, the Project Coordinator, MINDIVER, Mr Linus Adie expressed optimism that the policies which the Minister was coming up with will help in adding value to the minerals like never before, thus leading to the fulfilment of the diversification objectives.
According to him, the fact that some countries that have only a few of the minerals Nigeria possesses are relying on them economically shows that when the efforts being made by Mr President and the Minister to add value to the numerous minerals Nigeria has begin to yield fruit, then there will be no need to talk about oil.
