The federal government has secured a $150 million (N45.7 billion) support fund from the World Bank for the Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification (MSSED) programme.
The minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, disclosed this in Abuja, in his 2016 end of year ministerial briefing and projections for year 2017.
The minister also said that the ministry was working with the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, the Nigerian Stock Exchange and other institutions to assemble a $600 million investment fund for the sector by the first quarter of 2017.
Dr Fayemi said: “We have secured support from the World Bank for the funding of $150m Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification (Economic Diversification MSSED or MinDiver) programme,” adding that “a critical component of the support is to provide technical assistance for the restructuring and operationalisation of the Solid Minerals Development Mining Investment Fund which would make finance available to ASM operators through development finance, micro-finance and leasing institutions.”
He also spoke of plans for the mining sector in the new year, at the event which also featured the commissioning of 38 surveillance vehicles bought for mines officers, valued at about N322 million.
He said: “The fund will also help to bring back on stream previously abandoned proven mining projects like tin ore, iron ore, coal, gold and lead-zinc among others.”
Dr Fayemi said the sector has witnessed some positive developments and productivity in the last one year, including a major improvement in the ministry’s contribution to the Federation Account to about N2 billion in 2016, up from N700 million in 2015.
He added that increased productivity in the mining space had also led to significant discovery of mineral deposits, notably the large find of high-grade nickel a few months ago in Dangoma, Kaduna State, by an Australian mining company operating in Nigeria.
The minister further revealed that government had constructed 10 prototype mineral buying centres across the country for specific strategic industrial minerals.
“The centres are to serve as standardisation centres to enable ASM cooperatives and operators receive fair premium for their labour. With renewed determination to strengthen collaborative efforts with state governments in natural resource governance, the PMBCs are being ceded to the governments,” he said.
The minister also inaugurated the Mining Implementation Strategy Team (MIST) to be chaired by the President of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society, Prof. Olugbenga Okunlola, and coordinated by the Special Adviser to the Minister on Policy and Strategy, Prof. Okey Onyejekwe.
Presenting their Terms of Reference (TOR), the minister said “these includes developing a logical framework matrix that spells out priorities, key performance indicators (KPIs),targets/benchmarks, timelines and result-based action plans.
