The Federal Government, through
the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, is exploring collaboration with the
World Bank in the mining sector.
The collaboration is to unlock
financing and technical support for the development of the sector.
The Minister of Solid Minerals
Development, Mr. Dele Alake during a courtesy visit by the World Bank Country
Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri expressed satisfaction with the renewed
focus on development of the nation's mineral resources by the Tinubu
administration.
He said with the preponderance of
economically viable minerals in Nigeria, the country has the potential to make
the sector a major contributor to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Mr. Chaudhuri reiterated the
readiness of the Bank to partner with the Ministry to unlock financing for
specific intervention areas requiring funding, emphasising, however, that that
the terms and conditions of the Bank to ensure effective implementation of
projects and transparency in utilising funds is mandatory. He also added that
the bank is not restricted to providing financing alone, asserting it has the
capacity to offer technical assistance to improve mining operations in the
country.
In his response, the Minister
hailed the World Bank team for the visit, commending the institution for
spearheading developmental efforts in diverse sectors of the economy over the
years.
"The World Bank has been
able to redirect focus on developmental issues and projects in countries,
especially Nigeria. Just recently, we had the support of the World Bank on
palliatives being rolled out after fuel subsidy removal. We had appreciable
support from the World Bank. I thank you for your involvement in the min diver
project, which, unfortunately, is coming to a close. We look forward to
strengthening collaboration, which will culminate in the needed funding for
critical areas in the mining sector, alongside the requisite technical support,
as earlier hinted, "Alake said.
Throwing light on his vision for
the mining sector, the minister said the first major priority is investment in
exploration to generate the requisite geo-data that will guide investors in
making informed decisions about investing in the sector. He also revealed that
efforts are ongoing to establish efficient governance structures and secure the
mining environment.
Alake further assured that the
Federal Government is committed to providing an enabling environment to
safeguard mining operations whilst ensuring maximum beneficiation to host
communities and accruable revenue to government through royalties and taxes.
Also on the World Bank team was
its program leader, equitable growth, finance innovation, Bertina Kamphuis.
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