Mining
Experts name for pressing interventions to handle sector challenges
Total revenue from the solid mineral sector in Nigeria in the previous nine years stands at about N262 billion, sustaining a gradual rise from N8.1 billion in 2007 to N65.7 billion in 2015.
Analysis of information supplied in the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) audit dashboard confirmed that the nation’s revenue from the sector in 2008 stood at N9.5 billion and moved to N19.four billion in 2009. In 2010, the determine declined to N17.three billion however moved to N26.9 billion, N31.four billion, N33.eight billion in 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively. In 2014, the revenue went to N49.6 billion earlier than hitting N65.7 billion in 2015.
However, whereas the whole royalty earned for the interval beneath assessment stood at N7.4 billion, the whole metric tons of solid mineral produced in the nation stood at about 330 million metric tons with contributions from limestones hovering at 54.5 per cent of the whole manufacturing.
As said by the report, manufacturing of solid mineral reached the height in 2014, when the nation produced about 47 million metric tons of solid mineral whereas the bottom manufacturing was recorded in 2007, when the nation produced about 13 million metric tons of solid minerals.
Though Nigeria is blessed with numbers of solid minerals, together with coal, lignite and Coke, gold, columbite wolframite and tantalite, bitumen, iron Ore, uranium, mining of minerals solely accounts for zero.5 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a state of affairs blamed on the affect of huge oil assets.
Chief Executive Officer, EPINA Technologies Limited, Prof. Eguakhide Oaikhi, famous that whereas the sector may add as a lot as $50 billion (about N15.three trillion) to the nation’s GDP by climbing from zero.5 per cent to 10 per cent development, authorities has been insensitive to the decision for the overhaul of the sector.
“Everybody seems to be concerned with oil or the mining of the minerals. In the raw state, these mined minerals sell at very low prices but when characterised and processed, it could have very competitive market value for the country,” he famous.
While the Advisory Partner and Mining Leader at Pricewaterhousecoopers (PwC) Nigeria, Cyril Azobu, instructed The Guardian that Nigeria is a quick evolving mining jurisdiction, he insisted that the sector may contribute far more provided that many of the nation’s wealthy solid minerals endowment stay largely untapped.
He famous that the dearth of correct coverage in the sector remained a primary challenges there have to be tackled if desired goal could be achieved in the sector.
Azobu stated: “There has over the years been a preponderance of largely casual operations fraught with using crude gear and intensely harmful working practices due to the absence of a formal coverage on artisanal mining.
“We have a situation where for a very long time the solid minerals sector was neglected by the government. The agriculture sector also suffered from this neglect. Because of this, the sector has remained underdeveloped with no real structures put in place by successive governments to unlock its potential.”