Eunice Imo-Kalu
Lagos — The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc Olamilekan Adegbite, has assured foreign investors of attractive incentives to mine minerals in the country.
The minister assured investors that there were huge deposits of gold, lead, zinc, iron-ore, barite and other minerals in Nigeria in a paper he presented on the Nigerian Day at the 2022 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, PDAC, International Convention, Trade Show and Investors Exchange’ in Toronto, titled, ‘The Mechanisms of Transparency and Commitment in Mining Governance as Tool for Attracting Foreign Direct Investment to Nigeria’.
Adegbite made it clear that Nigeria’s solid minerals are ranked among the best in quality and quantity as these minerals are rated highest in return on investment, because they are closer to surface and has low production cost.
He added that the Nigerian Government is focusing on the solid minerals sector and that investors and investments are top on its priority list as far as policies are concerned.
According to him, this makes the mining sector market-orientated because of mechanisms put in place to promote ease of doing businesses built on strong policy and regulatory structures over the years.
The minister mantained that the global economies have experienced difficult challenges since the breakout of COVID-19 pandemic and that this is why the conference is being held in June.
“Nigeria has been part of this event for several years because of our determination to see exponential growth of the mining sector’s contribution to our GDP more than it has done in the past forty years.
“We are here to collaborate and network with global leaders, professionals, investors, Chief Executives of junior, mid-tier and major mining companies. It is also on this premise that the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, in collaboration with industry stakeholders, vowed to pull resources and consolidate on the 2016 Roadmap for the Growth and Development of the Nigerian Mining Industry.
“In pursuit of the goals set forth in the roadmap, the government initiated an ambitious reform regime in the sector, the flagship of which was the National Integrated Mineral Exploration Programme, NIMEP, designed to rapidly generate bankable geo-scientific data with the aim of de-risking the sector and attracting high caliber investments,” he said.
Follow us on twitter
