The federal government has revealed that it received 138 loan applications for the sum of ₦14.59 billion, and approved 13 loans worth ₦1.08 billion, under the Artisanal and Small-scale Miners (ASM) Financing Support Fund.
The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Olamilekan Adegbite, made this known at an Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) workshop programme in Abuja, saying out of the 13 approved loan applications, a total of ₦311 million had been disbursed as of September 30.
BizWatchNigeria recalls that the fund was established in 2017 by the ministry in collaboration with the Bank of Industry (BoI). The ministry provided ₦2.5 billion while the bank matched it with another ₦2.5 billion counterpart funding, bringing the total to ₦5 billion.
He explained that the disbursement was low when compared with the total applications largely because applicants failed to meet the stringent requirements stipulated by the bank.
The minister stated that the federal government would ensure that the difficulties inherent in accessing the funds are removed.
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“In this regard, we are developing a unique and favourable template for the disbursement of the fund. This includes equipment- leasing and hire-purchase loan facility. We are of the belief that the new template, when fully operational, would spur enormous growth in the sector,” he added.
While highlighting some of the reform achievements under the ASM department, the minister said the ministry had registered about 1,495 mining cooperatives with each having over 10 members.
Out of the 1,495 registered mining cooperatives, 140 are gold mining.
He noted that mining in Nigeria is still largely artisanal-based, which is why the ministry created a department called Artisanal and Small-scale Mining to provide institutional support for artisanal miners who form the bulk of the operators and manpower in the sector.
According to him, the workshop has brought together industry operators from across the country to deliberate and meet minds on how best to access the support fund for artisanal and small-scale miners.
The minister identified one of the core pillars of President Muhammadu Buhari’s economic policy as the repositioning of the mining sector as a way of diversifying the economy to create wealth and jobs, to increase its contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and expand the range of economic opportunities available to Nigerians.
Ms. Olayinka Mubarak who represented the Bank of Industry (BoI) at the event, charged the miners to meet the requirements, as according to her, “the first few encounters we had were not pleasant.”
She said that many of the initial loan applicants did not meet the requirements to access the loan.
She added: “The money is a loan, not a grant. If the miners don’t repay the loan, the BoI will have to deep hands into its own account and pay it back to the federal government. Where will you see money at five per cent?
“By the time you take the loans and you pay back, we will be able to give you more and give loans to more people. Even the commercial banks will give money to miners when they see that the loans given by the BoI have been repaid.
