Foreigners Benefit More In Mining Activities Due To Poor Mgt- Omotaya

The National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies NIPSS says foreigners benefit more from Nigeria’s minerals resources due to improper regulations and management.

The Director General of NIPSS, Ayo Omotaya announced this at a joint media conference organised by NIPSS and a public relations firm, ahead of a 2-day Sumit on sustainable development in the mining industry in Abuja.

Omotaya stressed that the solid minerals sector must be repositioned as it is critical for development of the national economy.

“Mining which is the extraction of mineral resources which the country is endowed with, has been a low hanging fruit for some time now. Our inability to take a decisive action on this has led to “outsiders” coming to explore and extract some of these minerals while illegal and unscrupulous elements capitalise on this to milk the nation dry” he stated.

He stressed that Governments over the years have made tremendous efforts to address the problems and challenges of mining but however there seems to be a lot more to be done to realise the full potential of this sector.

According to Omotaya, the main objective of the summit is to provide a platform for all stakeholders in the mining industry, not only to meet and discuss, but to deliberate and reflect on the best strategies to achieve sustainable development of the sector.

“The end goal is for the sector to reach its potential and contribute meaningfully to the desire to improve the lives of Nigerian citizens” he emphasized.

“Look at the policy and regulatory frameworks guiding the activities of the mining sector, check its impact on the environment, examine how to leverage modern technologies to enhance the activities of the sector and explore how to build local human capacity to take charge of the sector” he added.

The NIPSS Director General explained that the Summit will look at strategies to secure mining sites and activities in the country, to ensure the attraction of large-scale investment into the sector in order to move it away from being largely artisanal by getting foreign direct investment for the sector; as well as ensuring the buying-in of citizens and communities where mining activities take place.

He added that the platform will bring together all stakeholders from the industry practitioners to government regulators; the academia and investors, and all others involved in the value chain for mineral resources and mining noting that it is expected to provide useable recommendations and implementation strategies that will lead to sustainable development of the Industry.

On his part, the Former minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed while responding to questions said he decided to venture into mining due to its significance to national development as one of the sectors that can be used to turn around the economy.

By Georgina Humphrey, Edited By Grace Namiji