‘Solid Minerals Contributed N3.5bn to Federation Account in 2017’

• ‘Solid Minerals Contributed N3.5bn to Federation Account in 2017’

The solid minerals sector contributed N3.5bn to the Federation Account between January and November 2017, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has said.

Fayemi said this while giving an account of the sector in the past year, according to an online publication of the ministry, MMSD Weekly.

The minister stated that the hope that had been entrusted in the sector as a pillar of economic diversification by the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari had started yielding results as its contribution to the Federation Account had increased.

Fayemi said, “Our exertions were centred on advancing the reforms begun in 2016 in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s mandate to us to reposition the mining sector as a frontier of this administration’s economic diversification agenda.

“Aligned with the ‘Road map for the Growth and Development of the Nigerian Mining Industry’ approved in August 2016, our aspiration remains to build a world class minerals and mining ecosystem designed to serve a targeted domestic and export market for our minerals and ores. Our focus remains to improve the sector’s contribution to the GDP and to create jobs and economic opportunities for Nigerians.

“Accordingly, 2017 saw the commencement of the full implementation of the road map. It is important to note that our work in the mining sector is very much in sync with the policies and programmes of this administration’s Economic Management Team.

“The sector features very prominently in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, which is the medium-term plan for 2017 – 2020, and is the primary planning framework for the economy.”

He added, “Consolidating on our feat of achieving a 300 per cent increase in revenue (royalties and fees) between 2015 and 2016, we steadily progressed in 2017; and as of November 2017, the sector had already surpassed the entire revenue of about N2bn generated for the whole of 2016, with over N3.5bn contributed to the Federation Account.

“While we still have a long way to go, with the gains we have collectively achieved in 2017, we can confidently say that we are well on the road to shared mining prosperity.”

The minister said the mining sector was one of the key beneficiaries of the gains of the macro-economic reforms championed by the Economic Management Team, the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council and the Inter-Ministerial Council, and other such entities.