The Federal Government has disclosed its intentions to explore the possibilities that lie in the gold mining sector, taking into account its benefits for the economy.
This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Solid Minerals, Uchechukwu Ogah, in Abuja over the weekend.
Ogah noted that the government was making efforts to diversify the country’s economy and shift reliance on oil and its other products to other viable industries.
He described the exploration of gold and other elements of the mining sector as the future of the economy’s growth.
Ogah said, “We are moving away from oil because we believe that minerals are a thing of the future and the President has done a lot in initiating projects that are helping us to explore some of the few minerals that are of high value in the country.
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“Apart from that, the President has equally initiated what we call Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining initiative which led to the presentation of the first locally mined artisanal miner’s gold bar to Mr. President.
“The proposal is that we are looking at a good policy where gold would be explored, produced and if possible refined in Nigeria so that we can use it to shore-up our reserve and to ensure that the depreciation on our Naira is controlled when we have a good number of raw resources to shore-up our reserve.
“So we believe that there is a lot we can do together that will be mutually beneficial to both parties and our country. I believe that both of us can work purposefully to grow the sector collectively for the interest of the nation”.
