Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina state has attributed the persistent spate of insecurity bedeviling most parts of the country to the failure of government to fully exploit the solid mineral resources with which the nation is abundantly blessed.
The governor stated this when he paid a courtesy visit on the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc Olamilekan Adegbite, in Abuja on Monday.
This is contained in a press statement issued by the Director General (Media) to the Governor, Abdu Labaran Malumfashi and made available to Blueprint.
The governor also asserted that the agitations for resource control and restructuring would be out of fashion when the nation’s other resources, such as solid minerals, are fully exploited and harnessed.
Governor Masari said many youth have found calling in criminality because of the failure to develop other sectors of the economy to keep them fully engaged in viable undertakings.
According to the Katsina state governor, every state in the nation is sufficiently endowed with one mineral resource or the other, which if fully utilised, would be sufficient engagement for the youth to render criminal activities unnecessary.
Similarly, he expressed the belief that “agitation for resource development and restructuring will all go away with the development of the various mineral resources each state is endowed with.”
While soliciting for the cooperation of the mines and steel development ministry in assisting Katsina to harness its huge deposit of various solid mineral, the governor told the minister that his administration had provided all the necessary ground to make Katsina an investor-friendly state.
In his response, Arc Olamilekan reminded state governments that mineral resources, wherever they may be found in the country, are vested on the federal government to exploit on behalf of the Nigerian people, adding that it is wrong of any state to claim ownership of mineral resources found within its territorial jurisdiction.
