Tinubu’s Administration Ready To Partner Indigenous Miners

By Georgina Humphrey 

Solid Minerals Development Minister, Dr. Oladele Alake has assured indigenous mining engineers of the Tinubu administration’s readiness to partner with them in transforming the solid minerals sector.

He stated this when they paid him a visit to his office in Abuja.

Dr.Alake said all hands must be on deck to execute the roadmap for solid minerals development for the benefit of Nigerians.

He urged the mining engineers to initiate new ideas to promote the implementation of the roadmap to achieve local content across the solid minerals value chain.

The minister described the solid minerals sector as the “survival kit” of the country which is critical to the global clamor for climate change.

He reiterated plans to invest in solid minerals data to attract investors, leverage satellite technology, and set up a surveillance task force to tackle the menace of illegal mining.

On the proposal of the mining engineers asking the government to rename the ministry, the minister said “It would amount to legal gymnastics that would require institutional calibration.”

Earlier, the president of, the Nigerian Society of Mining Engineers, NSME, Professor Benson Shedrack Jatau advocated for the implementation of the roadmap to reposition the solid minerals sector.

Professor Jatau who applauded President Tinubu for splitting the Ministry of Mines and Steel into two, commended the campaign of the Minister against illegal mining which has defied all efforts in the sector.

“For decades, illegal mining activities have thrived in the nation’s mining industry without many successful attempts to contain it, It is expected that this administration demonstrates the political will to address it and effect appropriate regulatory controls and sanctions”.

Edited By Grace Namiji