Senate Committee Chairman on Solid Minerals, Senator Sampson Ekong has lamented what he described as ‘financial bleeding’ in the solid minerals sector which he said, must be addressed to get the nation benefitting maximally.
He spoke to journalists after a closed door committee meeting with the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Solid Minerals Development Fund, Fatima Shinkafi, on Friday.
Ekong who represents Akwa Ibom South Senatorial District, noted that mining is a huge market and critical to generating revenue for the nation but it’s been extracted illegally as a result of policy gap.
He said the Parliament will look at the “governance policy matrix”, and close the gap to keep illegal miners away for the government to take full control of the sector.
He also attributed the mining explosion in Ibadan, a few weeks ago that led to serious casualties to policy gaps, insisting that the Senate will collaborate to reposition the sector.
He said: “We are committed to working with key players to make the solid minerals sector fulfilled. What we need to do is to look at gaps and close them in terms of policy and implementation for work in progress.”
Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, SMDF, Fatima Shinkafi, reacting to questions, said the fund was poised to attract foreign investment, increase export proceeds and create jobs for Nigerians.
She said the fund was partnering with African Finance Corporation to deploy more resources for the generation of more geo scientific-data that will assist investors in making informed decisions on critical minerals.
“Last year, we signed a key partnership agreement with the African Finance Corporation to fund Greenfield exploration, which is a data driven project that will attract investment into the sector”, adding “we have several artisanal projects as well; 80% of the sector is currently artisanal”
“Our focus is to grow funds to impact and create jobs to mitigate against the current economic situation, to increase forex earnings from exports.
“If we can increase the critical mass of investment and export proceeds, we can increase our Forex and strengthen the naira”.
In his submission, Senator Sampson Ekong who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Solid minerals highlighted the areas in which the Committee through legislation, will collaborate with SMDF to strengthen the current policy which is guiding Solid Mineral Development Fund and as well perform its oversight function.
Ekong said they were committed to working closely with key players so that the sector can be moved forward. “I have been very clear that God in his benevolence has been very merciful to Nigeria, we are so richly endowed for our people and for Africa”.
The Akwa Ibom senator said ”what the committee did was to look at the gaps and see how those gaps can be addressed in terms of the legal framework, policy and its implementation, adding that through the partnership, they are going to “explore areas of collaboration that will lay a strong foundation for growth”.
