Q. Philosophy of Life
R. Let me not call it philosophy. I’d rather say my pursuit in life is to be that person who speaks truth to development, as against speaking truth to power. Speaking truth to development in my opinion is speaking about those things that can develop us spiritually, emotionally and most of all it enables building a platform that allows us to share our ideals and respect whatever makes us humans.
The pursuit of this one goal is my philosophy.
Q. View on geology/mining in Nigeria
R. As a Christian, I will give you a biblical interpretation to this question. The earth was without void and then God breathed into it and made everything that came into it.
There is an aspect of Christianity that ties God directly to everything. If you look at the story of Noah’s Ark and all the things that it was made from or when you look at the garment of the ‘chief priest’ that worshiped god, it was made out of sapphire and other precious metals. When you look at everything God has given to us, they are made of precious metals and gold.
I think the foundation of understanding what God wanted man to be is in how we look at those precious stones, interpret them and know the importance of what he has given us. But we need to know that we can’t get to them without mining. Work is important in the scheme of things.
Looking at it from an academic standpoint, for a country like Nigeria where mining started around 1901 when the first geological survey was carried out, one can say we have come a very long way.
The world has been depending on mining for existence and survival. Everything that helps man to survive such as stones, clay, wood, metals, etc even our homes all came out of mining.
Mining contributed up to 12% to Nigeria’s real GDP between 1965 and 1975.
A lot of people forget that mining was actually the flagship of industrialization in Nigeria. I will tell you how and why.
Every major industry, facility, infrastructure that was developed in Nigeria was built around the mines. In the south, the Port Harcourt sea port was designed, built and constructed for the sole purpose of handling and shipping coal. And because of the discovery of coal, the areas between Enugu and Port Harcourt became developed. If you come up to the North, Jos as a town or city grew around mining to the point that the first independent power plant that has ever worked and still working in this country today was actually built because of the tin mines. The only smelter in black Africa which has the capacity it has today is Mekeri Smelting. Even after 40 years of non-operation it is still the biggest smelter in black Africa. The Kurra Falls which is generating electricity that is today still functioning was actually dedicated to the mines. The rail tracks were also developed because coal was found in large quantity in different locations. We can go on and on talking about all the things that mining has done.
Q. Views on environment, as related to mining
R. In those days when you have to do cut and join, you could talk about environmental degradation as a major issue. But now we have science and technology supporting mining. Our major problem is that we have not being able to understand the process that is needed to do what work when and how it needs to be done. A lot of people think mining is all capital intensive not knowing that it is more about knowledge than anything else. The reason is that we put the cart before the horse. We don’t engage the right people to ask the right questions.
To tell you the truth, we have not done mining in the past 40yrs in Nigeria. What we have been doing is at best, scavenging the earth. The only best thing anyone can tell me we have done in the tin sector is the processing of the taillings. I don’t think there has been any new Tin or Columbite mine that has been developed in this country in the past 40yrs and I stand to be corrected.
Q. Advice to young professionals
R. The best advice is to get or seek knowledge on how to understand the process. Today we have a lot of challenges. There is stiff competition between people who are mining engineers and people who are in the geological exploration aspect of mining. This is because we don’t know who starts work first. It explains why you see mining engineers doing the works of geologists and geologist doing the works of other geoscientists. There is confusion everywhere.
Specifically, the first thing I will advise the younger ones is to first and foremost, develop what is called a ‘shopping list’. This will help you to develop your levels and try to accord responsibilities to those levels. The most important thing is that we need to develop a trajectory, a system that brings everybody onto the table from the workman to the tool man, foreman, the professionals, the Interns, the financial people and so on. This is to ensure that everyone is in the know of what is going on and this will help in decision making.
One other thing of note is that mining provides jobs opportunities for every profession. So we need to understand that the sector is not only about geologists, geoscientists or mining engineers or government officials or the ministry alone. It is about everybody coming together on the same page.
Q. If you are minister for one week, what would you change or improve about the sector?
R. If I were to be a minister for one week; I don’t even need one week, the first thing I will do is to decouple the sector. For a very long time now, government has been running the sector. Government has invested a lot both in human capital and infrastructure. The most important role government should play in the sector should be that of a regulator. So as a minister and I don’t have to be minister to advice, the first thing I will do is to be able to get everybody back onto that table and do that review to know what happened, at what time did we get it right, what was happening then, at what time did we think we missed it, what did we do wrong, where are we now and where can we be. Against three major factors, first, the most important aspect of mining is getting a mine to the point of production. This is where we begin to talk about exploration and interpreting exploration. It is one thing to talk about exploration and another thing to be able to interpret exploration. I don’t mean interpreting exploration data but understanding the trajectory of exploration.
I will ensure that the mining sector serves as a support sector to the construction industry, agricultural industry, transport industry, housing industry etc. This will help to build inter- Sectorial synergies. As a minister, I will push for policies to make sure that anything coming out of the earth gets value addition. Then I will follow that up with establishing value processing facilities not to be run by government but run by those who understand market forces.
Q. Going forward, 10 years down the line, where do you see this sector. Is there a chance of difference?
R. No! In 10 years it will be worse.
Q. Brief on how your mining story started.
R. My grandfather was a ‘Section 36 Manager’ in the 40s. Only few miners can remember or know the meaning of Section 36 Manager. It is actually known as a foreman in a mining site. I spent a lot of time with him, that was when I got the flair for exploring the land. In those days the most important people in the value chain were the host communities. I got to respect them and found out that they were the most important fragments in that line of duty. This was how it started till I got into government, left and went back to my family business which I tried and pulled out of the roots.
Q. Hobbies
R. For now, my work is my hobby. I used to have a lot of hobbies in the past like hockey but I am now very engrossed with my works from where I derive so much fun too. I run a resort center, a farm which I visit from time to time and some mining sites too. It is difficult to be in this sector and still keep other things as hobbies. If anybody in the sector tells you they have hobbies they are either lying or probably the hobby has to do with reading before going to sleep knowing that they need to get up early and keep moving.
But of course, I enjoy teaching from time to time; I read a book once in a while and catch all the sleep I can at my age.
Q. Favorite book
R. I have two favourite books; The Bible and the Holy Quran. I found out that all the knowledge we seek are all in these books.
Q. Role model
R. Dr. Ali Adamu. He was the first person that made me believe in myself and my capacity as a young man. Prof. Ijeoma and my father. I mentioned my father because the way he molded me is the same way I am molding my children.
My mother is my hero and best friend. She believes very much in me. Also, Abdulsalam has always been moving everywhere with me from the beginning.
Q. Personal achievements
R. My greatest achievement is that I have been able to find peace and conquer fear. I no longer look up to people for anything. I have been able to live like I have all the three basic things that God has listed namely Food, Clothes and Shelter.
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