21 June 2017, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, Mr Oscar Onyema, has said the current statistics on the Nigerian mining sector indicated a tremendous opportunity for growth, as it accounts for 0.02 per cent of exports, 0.3 per cent of national employment and contributes 0.5 per cent an estimated N2 billion to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP.
But, he stated that this representation was low compared to global trends for the sector, adding that in 2015, the South African mining industry contributed 19.6 billion dollars toward the country’s GDP, representing 7.1 per cent of overall GDP.
Speaking at the National Mining Summit and ConMin West Africa in Abuja, the NSE chairman said that Australian mining sector on the other hand contributed 114.9 billion dollars to GDP in 2016.
He said globally, the metals and mining sector was among the largest sectors, going by the number of companies in operation and its employment size.
“The role of the capital market in harnessing the Nigerian Mining sector’s potential and providing entrepreneurs with access to large, affordable funding for capital intensive projects could not be overemphasise.”
He said the NSE had been well-positioned as a premiere listing destination for African corporate, governments and international issuers looking to access the capital market of the largest economy in Africa.
He encouraged the federal and state governments as well as the mining industry to seriously consider leveraging the opportunities that abound in the Nigerian capital market to grow the sector.
According to him, NSE also looks forward to assisting the ministry to achieve its mandate of establishing a 600 million dollars investment fund for the sector.
