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Fayemi gives roadmap on solid minerals business

By Abiodun Fagbemi , Terhemba Daka and Murtala Muhammed
18 May 2016   |   3:12 am
He said the roadmap on solid minerals development depends on concrete database of existing solid minerals and miners, especially those that are not organised.
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Kayode Fayemi

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Kayode Fayemi

• Minister canvasses review of mining laws
• Ndoma-Egba seeks review of federal system

Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has advocated effective collation of artisan miners along areas of exploration to enhance Federal Government’s diversification plans on solid minerals in the country.

He said the roadmap on solid minerals development depends on concrete database of existing solid minerals and miners, especially those that are not organised.

The minister, who spoke yesterday while hosting the Special Adviser to Kano State Governor on Solid Minerals, Hajia Balaraba Ibrahim in his office, affirmed Federal Government’s readiness to legalise activities of artisan miners.

He also expressed the possibility of establishing a satellite campus of the Mining Training School, Jos in Kano and government intervention in technical support for the miners as requested by the Kano State government.

Also, Fayemi yesterday urged the National Assembly to review the current laws to enable increased participation of states and host communities in exploration of solid minerals, saying that review of the obsolete legislations would address issues of illegal mining and the resultant environmental effects.

He said that if the relevant laws on solid minerals mining are reviewed to allow states of the federation fully participate in exploration, everyone one of them would have something to bring to the table.

Speaking yesterday on the floor of the House at the resumed sectoral debate on diversification of the nation’s economy, organised by the chamber, the minister said: “If we are to really make a headway to aid mining, states and host communities must become much more active than they are now. They don’t have to be spectators, they should be central actors in the process and it will also help the Federal Government to monitor closely what is being done, and reduce the level of illegal activities taking place if states are involved.”

In another development, former Senate Majority Leader and Minister of Budget and Planning, Victor Ndoma-Egba, after taking a retrospective analysis of development in the country, has canvassed a review of federal system of government to ensure a better development by component units.

Ndoma-Egba, who spoke as guest speaker at the ninth Justice Moradeyo Adesiyun biennial memorial lecture in Ilorin on Monday, said federalism as practised in the country, is not working.

In her own reaction, Hajia Ibrahim told the minister that harnessing the optimal values of abundant solid minerals sector in Kano could transform the nation’s socio-economic fortune.

She solicited Federal Government’s intervention of establishing satellite campuses of the mining training school across the geo-political zones to ease logistic challenges.

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