To revamp the solid minerals and mining sector and reposition it for productivity, the Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Dr Chinyere Almona, has urged the federal government to urgently review the mining industry strategy to attract mineral exploration investments, reignite mining project development, accelerate new mineral discoveries and encourage optimal utilisation of Nigerian mineral resources in line with the environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles for sustainable growth.
Expressing deep concern over the woeful performance of the country’s solid mineral sector, she said it has recorded back-to-back low performance in the last two quarters.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the mining and quarrying sector contributed just 4.47 per cent to the overall GDP in the fourth quarter of 2023, lower than the contributions recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022 at 4.51 per cent and lower than the previous quarter at 8.32 per cent.
Almona regretted that despite its immense potential, the mining sector remains hampered by many obstacles, including inadequate infrastructure, regulatory inconsistencies, limited access to financing and insecurity in mining locations. These challenges, she said, have collectively contributed to stifling growth, deterring investments and impeding the sector’s ability to fulfill its role as a catalyst for industrialisation.
She said in the National Development Plan 2021-2025, Nigeria planned to have laid a solid foundation for the sector to begin catalysing growth and industrialisation in an environmentally sustainable manner by 2025. “In response to the sector’s poor performance, the government launched a new mining roadmap in 2016 to build a world-class minerals and mining ecosystem designed to serve a targeted domestic and export market. All of these were planned to position the sector to contribute 3.0 per cent to the GDP by 2025. Reaching this goal would lead to Nigeria’s global competitiveness and industrialisation aligned with the African Mining Vision. With just a year to go, little has been achieved regarding Nigeria’s mining sector,” she said.
She regretted that the sector is not a major engine of economic growth and receives little investment, producing less than 0.5 per cent of GDP with a limited value chain to the economy. “Our solid minerals are exported with little or no value added. While Nigeria intends to capitalise on the sector’s potential, it faces numerous challenges, including inconsistent policies, unclear land tenures and issues between Federal and State Governments, particularly in the collection of royalties and taxes from licensed miners operating in their domains,” she said.
Urging the government to address the sector’s funding issues and enable enhanced access to finance for processing value-added minerals-based products by establishing seed funds and special incentives to attract foreign and domestic investors; she advocated the revival of the Ajaokuta Steel and the Nigerian Iron Ore and Mining Company (NIOMCO). “To ramp up investments, we must deploy more relevant research and technology to trace more mineral deposits and make more relevant data available to investors.”
She also urged the government to learn from the hindrances currently being experienced in the Niger Delta area, over the failure to allow small-scale crude refineries to operate under set supervision. “For the solid minerals sector, we should adopt an inclusive strategy on Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) aligned with development plans at all levels of government and linked to other national rural sector strategies. This will make the sector more integrated with other activities that generate more jobs in rural areas. We need to support the mining ecosystem with amenities like electricity, good roads and water. Mining companies should sign Community Development MOUs with host communities that will help create a sustainable operating environment.”
Almona said if effectively implemented, these measures can revitalise the sector and position it as a critical driver of economic growth and development. However, she said successful execution requires concerted efforts and collaboration among government agencies, private sector entities, civil society organisations and local communities.
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