The Minister
of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has said that government has
put in place measures to stop exportation of raw solid minerals by October.
Fayemi stated
this in a lecture titled ‘Nigeria’s Solid Minerals: Prospects and Challenges
and the Nation’s Quest for Economic Diversification’, delivered in Abuja at the
induction programme for non-career ambassadors-designate.
“Before now,
a lot of illegality had been going in the sector. People were just shipping out
raw minerals which has informed government policy or decision of banning the
unprocessed minerals.
“In the next
six months raw minerals would not be allowed to be exported because
beneficiation is a priority to this government rather than just exportation of
the raw minerals,” he said.
He said any
miner ready to invest in the sector must be willing to set up processing plants
in host communities in order to create jobs for the people.
He explained
that the enforcement of the ban would not be done arbitrarily as the investors
would be given time to establish their processing plants.
The minister
also called for partnership of state governments towards developing the mining
sector in the country.
Fayemi noted
that given the fact that mining takes place in locations in states, there was
need for partnership with host communities and the state government to achieve
results.
He said the
right to issuance of consent given to host communities had been abused over the
years, adding that the intervention of the state government was paramount.
Source: BusinessNews
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