As Nigeria seeks to shore up investment in solid mineral sector, the federal government says it has received the sum of N1.1 billion in royalties since 2021 till date from Segilola Resources Operating Limited, SROL one of the leading gold projects in Nigeria.
“SROL has paid about N1.1 billion in royalties to the Federal Government since they started production in 2021,” the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite revealed during an inspection tour of SROL facility in Iperindo area of Osun State.
According to the Minister, the success story of gold production by SROL has attracted more local and foreign investors to the sector who at the moment are at various stages of exploratory and other activities to fully commence operations in the country.
“An Aurelian company came into Nigeria in 2021, brought some investment in and others are about starting operation while another company who has also made imprints in Nigeria is acquiring equities right now. So many other companies like that have come into Nigeria, some are at the explorative stages while some have even gone beyond that.
“We need more of Segilola in Nigeria, you are the pioneer and we are happy that it is a success story because when I started going to the mining calendar events and inviting them to invest in the sector, they were hesitant as they saw Nigeria as shark-infested water and wanted to see who dived in and came out first. They wanted to see how Thor’s exploration will fare, your success story is out there now and everybody wants to be the next Segilola.
“I was in Australia, Saudi Arabia, London, Canada, even the United States of America, everybody wants to come to Nigeria to do mining because of what Segilola has done, a lot of news out there is negative about Nigeria, but we have your story to tell as a company that came from outside and is able to survive in Nigeria”, the Minister said.
The Minister also appealed to host communities and the management of SROL to maintain harmonious relationship so that both parties will benefit from the cooperation of each other.
The Minister revealed that since commencement of operations last year, SROL has offered employment opportunities to a huge number of host community members both in skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled labour.
“They employed a lot of people, the communities are benefiting, they have gone beyond the Community Development Agreement (CDA) which is compulsory and now doing a lot under Community Social Responsibility (CSR), this should be an encouragement”, he said.
Speaking earlier, the Chief Executive Officer, CEO Segilola Resources Operating Limited, Segun Lawson, applauded the federal government’s support and motivation, noting that such encouragement formed the building block for the company’s success story.
While decrying the activities of illegal miners in the field, he appealed to the federal government to deploy more efforts in addressing the challenge.
Lawson said apart from running commercial mining operations, SROL has also added developmental value to host communities by fulfilling “all the promises made in the CDA signed with the host communities”.
Additionally, the company he said has also delved into CSR by constructing markets, schools, bridges, provision of scholarships, portable water, and others.
He further hinted that plans are ongoing to expand exploration and production of Gold in other States, and also explore other solid minerals.
