Minister of mines and steel development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, made this known during a paper presentation titled:“Roadmap for the Growth and Development of the Nigerian Mining Industry: On the Road To Shared Mining Prosperity.”
Fayemi said in the vision and goals of the road map was based on a recognition that Nigeria was working to recover the ground it lost in the past three decades due to a policy context that was hostile to business.
According to him, Nigeria’s minerals and mining ambition include to stabilise the sector and rebuild market confidence (2016 – 2018) in phase 1,to establish Nigeria as a competitive African mining and mineral processing centre (2016 – 2020) in phase 2, and selectively compete in the global market for refined metals and minerals, in addition to select ore exports (2018 – 2030) in phase 3.
He said: “By the end of the Phase 3, it is expected that Nigeria would have built a sustainable, globally competitive mining sector and related processing industries.”
The minister envisaged that “This revived and expanded industry will seek to prudently use the finite resources available to the country to improve the quality of life for Nigerians, as well as earn a healthy return for investors.
“This ambition is consistent with the tone set for national development, and is expected to help create the right conditions for minerals and mining succcess over the coming decade.
“If well executed, this ambition, combined with a realistic plan can unlock value for the Nigerian people with the potential to contribute to the rest of the economy through its significant multiplicative effect.
“We anticipate that by 2025, mining and its related sectors will make a direct and indirect contribution of $27 billion to Nigeria’s GDP,” he added.
He stressed that mining is business, and government now wants to see more private investors enter the market to drive growth in jobs directly in mining, and in support of the mining industry.
