28 November 2013, Lokoja – Kogi State Government on Thursday said it could generate 50 per cent of its funds from solid minerals in the state.
Governor Idris Wada disclosed this in Lokoja when he received the Federal Government Committee on Solid Minerals Post Mortem Committee.
Represented by his deputy, Mr Yomi Awoniyi, the governor said the amount was higher than the 13 per cent realised last year.
He urged the committee to ensure that the state benefited from its vast solid mineral resources to improve its fortunes.
The governor decried a situation where the state was blessed with 29 out of the 35 solid mineral deposits found in the country , but was earning little or nothing.
Wada also frowned at the situation where communities in the state were at the receiving end as a result of solid minerals exploration.
He described the committee’s visit to the state as ”hope rising and signs of better things to come” and urged it to carry out its assignments with diligence.
The governor renewed his administration’s desire to pay priority attention to the development of its solid minerals as alternative to the dwindling oil revenue.
He said that the state government would use whatever money it derived in the course of its solid mineral exploration to the development of the industry and the communities.
Wada also urged the committee to ensure that the state got its right measure of the solid minerals it produced, adding that the work of the committee was timely.
The governor assured that the state was willing to partner with the mining industry with the provision of machinery and other working tools to ensure that the state derived maximum benefit from solid minerals.
Also speaking, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Duties, Mr Johnson Onekutu, called on the Federal Government to regulate the issuance of mining licence to only genuine miners.
He said rather than making solid minerals exploration an issue on the exclusive list, the state government should be involved in deciding those to be granted approval to carry out exploration.
Earlier in his remarks, Mr Ajibola Fagboyegun, leader of the committee, said recent discoveries showed that revenue accruing from sold minerals were not going to the respective states.
He said the committee’s visit to the state was to ascertain what should be due to the state in terms of derivation from monies already saved from previous sales.
Fagboyegun said that they were also in the state to determine if the actual amount received from explorations were being remitted into the federation’s account.
He said that the visit would also establish a template to monitor inflow of monies derived from solid minerals.
He urged states to pay more attention on mineral resources in their states, adding that if well harnessed, Kogi would stand tall in revenue indices in the country.
Fagboyegun enjoined the Kogi Government to invest in the solid minerals sector as revenues from oil was no longer reliable.
He appealed to the state to look inwards and diversify its economy, saying that efforts would be made for the state to share from revenue that had so far accrued to the government from solid minerals.
– NAN
