The federal government has stated that formalisation of artisanal and small-scale miners is to the benefit of the miners and the country’s economy at large.
The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite stated this in his keynote address at the First public stakeholder consultative meeting for the formalisation of artisanal miners into cooperatives, small-scale miners into larger mineral and financial enterprises, and the design and implementation of an Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) remote sensing monitoring system in the mining and steel sector project held in Abuja courtesy of the World Bank assisted Mineral Sector Support For Economic Diversification (MINDIVER) project under the ministry.
This first public consultative meeting themed, “Developing the Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Economy” brought together representatives of the miners from across the states and FCT, development partners and experts in specific areas.
The Minister noted that the meeting became imperative given the fact that the Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) sector which is known globally as a major contributor in terms of mineral production, employment, poverty has not been able to achieve much as it has largely operated informally and in the shadows without legal rights and with limited access to minerals, capital, equipment, and technical assistance.
“This has kept it from achieving a safer and better livelihood for its operators,” he said.
“According to recent estimates by the World Bank, the ASM sector employs at least 40 million people worldwide. In Africa, the estimates are quite significant at 9 million people where it accounts for the largest mining workforce.
He explained that many developing countries across Africa, East Asia and Pacific, Latin America and South Asia have acknowledged the importance and potential of the sector and embraced it as a tool for poverty alleviation, having realised that it employs a large number.
The Minister, who disclosed that the ministry had as part of the formalisation process registered over 600 cooperatives for the miners, added that with era of criminalising artisanal and small scale miners as illegal miners is over.
He also said that efforts will be intensified efforts to ensure that the ASM sector is properly integrated into poverty alleviation and rural development strategies and programmes at federal and state levels, urging the operators to observe discipline and transparency in doing the business as government is willing to support them.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Mr Edet Akpan, reiterated the Ministry’s resolve to comprehensively reform the ASM subsector.
He urged participants to identify limitations and make appropraite recommendations on the best ways to approach the project in order to achieve the desired goal.
