The stakeholders also stressed the need to drive the Federal Government’s commitment to economic diversification through the sector as well as limiting capital flight through targeted approaches to develop existing mineral resources in the country.
Although the country is blessed with many solid mineral resources, development of the resources remained dismal albeit improved earnings from the sector.
NEITI had earlier disclosed that Nigeria generated N79.96bn from the solid minerals sector in 2019. The earning was the highest in five years. The figure, which represents accruals to the Federation and other subnational entities, represents a 15 per cent increase when compared to the N69.47 billion that was achieved in 2018.
Adegbite had noted at a meeting with key management staff of the extractive company in Abuja, that a number of initiatives were being developed to unlock mining potential, including addressing issues around artisanal miners.
While the global barite market was valued at $1.4 billion in 2019, and projected to reach $2.4 billion by 2027, Adegbite noted that Nigeria has been on track with the development of the resources.
“The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development in its bid to develop the value chain of mineral resources in the country and achieve its Presidential mandate to prioritise and develop seven strategic minerals in the Mining Roadmap is set to launch its made-in-Nigeria Barite soon.
“The Ministry has succeeded in achieving the development of barite from extraction, milling and bagging stages to support local industries, as well as for export, adding that Nigeria bagged barite has “Proudly Nigeria’ as its logo,” Adegbite said.
Adegbite had noted that the import of resources was leading to capital flight to the detriment of local industries that have the capacity to develop the nation’s huge deposits of barite, including the development of the value chain of other mineral resources across the 774 local government areas.
Adegbite disclosed that the Ministry has been working at updating and upgrading its ICT infrastructure to enable it to link the 10 agencies in the Ministry so that all data of royalties paid and funds received would be properly monitored and uploaded to the Ministry’s server for online real-time accessibility.
Orji, who noted that the improvement witnessed in the revenue from the mining sector could get better with collaboration, said the agency would perform better with necessary support from the ministry, especially in the area of data exchange.
Commending the Minister, Orji said efforts made through roadmaps, extant acts and regulations were not jettisoned by the current ministry under the new minister.
Orji said: “recent reports showed phenomenal revenue growth in the industry. But we feel that more can be achieved by working together and sharing information and data.”
