Guardian Nigeria
• U.S. tops buyers as stakeholders urge FG to establish jewellery training centres
• Experts want govt to prioritise PPP in extractive industry
Nigeria has generated $15.2 million from the exportation of gemstones and emerged as the 30th largest exporter worldwide. This is a significant achievement for the country’s extractive industry.
These highlight the global appeal of Nigeria’s precious stones, with demand spanning across continents, as the United States of America (U.S.) emerged as the largest market for the country’s precious stones, accounting for $6.7 million in exports, followed by India ($1.78 million), Germany ($1.52 million), France ($1.43 million) and Thailand ($1.34 million).
According to growing export markets, the market for precious stones from Africa’s most populous black nation has seen remarkable growth between 2021 and 2022, with the U.S. purchasing gemstones worth $4.22 million, France $904,000 and Italy $710,000.
This surge in demand underscores the quality and desirability of Nigeria’s precious stones, with buyers seeking them out for their exceptional beauty and rarity.
This achievement is a testament to the hard work and dedication of Nigeria’s gemstone industry, which has overcome challenges to shine bright on the global stage.
Stakeholders have called on the Federal Government to set up jewellery training centres nationwide to boost the potential of the gemstones industry for youth employment.
Nigeria is the most important producer of gemstones in West Africa, with commercial deposits of precious and semi-precious stones like paraiba tourmaline, sapphire, emerald, aquamarine, spessartite, amethyst, zircon and a few rare species like ruby, phenakite, kunzite, tanzanite, tsavorite, and lepidolite. When cut, faceted and polished for use in jewellery or other personal adornments, gemstones belong to a particular class of commercial minerals.
Similarly, the Nigerian Extractive Industries and Transparency Initiative (NEITI) report suggests that there are about 40 different kinds of solid minerals and precious metals in Nigeria’s soil waiting to be exploited. The commercial value of Nigeria’s solid minerals is estimated to run into hundreds of trillions of dollars, with 70 per cent in the North.
Despite these prospects, the Nigerian solid minerals sector contributed 0.63 per cent to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). While there has been some improvement compared to previous years, when it contributed 0.45 per cent in 2020 and 0.26 per cent in 2019, the sector has not yet reached its full potential in making a significant impact on the overall Nigerian economy.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of Iche Construction and Global Services Limited, Odey Ogbudu, the Nigerian economy does not benefit financially from gemstone trade and the contribution of the solid minerals sector to the country’s overall GDP averages.
To leverage this potential, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, last week, noted that plans were in place to establish jewellery training centres nationwide to empower youth in the gemstone industry to drive economic growth.
Alake lauded the management of the ministry and officials of the MinDiver project for investing in the development of the gemstone value chain and expanding the frontiers of knowledge in Nigeria’s jewellery industry.
Former African Chairman, Communities Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (CASM), Linus Adie, called on the government to create policies that encourage Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in the country’s extractive industry.
The renowned gemstone expert emphasised that the state of the extractive industry in Nigeria required a multifaceted approach to address the challenges faced.
