Could you give an honest opinion on the recent earth tremor that occurred in the FCT and its environs? I don’t think it has to do with the excavations going on in the areas until investigations are completed.
If you recall, two years ago there was an incident like that in Kwoi, in the southern part of Kaduna state and it became a challenge to geoscientists.
We had to direct the stoppage of blasting activities around the tremor affected areas because we want the experts to do some investigations to check and ascertain what really happened.
What they did was to take coordinates and samples.
There are things that are natural occurrences and there is nothing you can do; while there are things that are man induced.
I want to say that Nigeria is not located on a geographical zone that is prone to earthquakes.
It is unusual in Nigeria.
These happenings could also be as a result of climate in terms of climatic change.
A lot of things are now happening around areas where things should not have happened.
So, because of these unsuspecting occurrences the government proactively approved the purchase of equipment used in detecting such occurrences.
We were able to acquire six seismometers and were about installing them when the incident happened in Mpape, in the FCT.
Would you say the safety measures in mining have failed? We have given attention to safety in all mining related issues but what happened in Mpape has no direct bearing with mining activities.
That was why I gave the example with Kwoi which is not a mining area but experienced earth tremor two years ago.
We had to stop all blasting activities to enable us take samples and do proper investigation on what really happened.
We cannot also run away from the fact that human induced activities can also cause what happened.
We have not come into conclusion yet but still investigating and very soon the result will be out and only then that we would be able to attribute a cause.
The fact remains that Nigeria is not located in a geological region where you have earthquakes or earth tremors because the earth is like a broken plate that when put together has edges that are prone to earthquakes but Nigeria and indeed the West African region is lucky not to be in that region.
However, there are areas we found out have weaknesses around our geological regions and Mpape happens to be in that kind of axis.
It is sitting on a granitic rock detected through our area magnetic survey conducted round the entire country.
It may be that what happened in Mpape might not be associated with anything around Mpape but maybe because of activities from somewhere but since that area is weak the impact affected Mpape and some parts of the Federal Capital City.
We have to understand that these occurrences are natural and we don’t have control over them.
However, what have control over is to ensure that mining is done in line with international best standards as practiced in other mining nations.
There are areas that have gone far in mining activities without earth tremor but if you are mining in an area of these weaknesses it is possible to experience tremors and other geological effects, especially if it is underground mining.
But we have not gotten to that stage of mining yet in Nigeria.
Our mining is still majorly artisanal with most of them being open cast and alluvial.
Apart from blasting that can be seen as a threat at the moment l don’t think Nigeria has gotten to that stage in mining where it is dangerous to our society.
Any measure to prevent such occurrence? The first thing which is good news is that Nigerians should not be panic about the occurrences.
When it happened we took a survey and there were no cracks on any of the buildings, roads etc which is a cheering news.
We have also acquired equipment in monitoring and detection of such occurrences.
The equipment which is called seismometer when installed in six points in Nigeria will be used in monitoring earth tremors, earthquakes etc.
We had to proactively do that after the Kwoi incident in order to avoid claiming that since Nigeria is not located in earthquake prone zone we will not do something.
There was a need for us to be proactive, so we acquired them and allayed the fears of Nigerians and if we are able to detect such occurrences before they happen that will enhance our safety measures.
How has your Ministry fared on the diversification of the economy through solid minerals? When we were given the mandate, the most important thing for us was to ensure that mining sector contributes more to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and create jobs for our teeming unemployed youth.
When we came on board we were presented with so many challenges which needed urgent attention, thus the need for engaging academicians and mining stakeholders to brainstorm on how to get things right for the good of the sector and the nation at large.
Based on the outcome of the consultations with relevant stakeholders, we developed the roadmap for the growth and development of the Nigeria mining industry.
The roadmap is designed with key interventions on different areas of the sector and timelines for the execution of such interventions.
With the roadmap, the ministry saw a major financial boost from the federal government and other donors, the sector’s budget increased and that enabled us to address major challenges which have hitherto been a quagmire to the growth of the sector.
Interestingly, the Nigerian Gross Domestic Product Report from the National Bureau of Statistics of the second quarter in 2018 on quarrying and other minerals under mining and quarrying sector grew by 3.31% in the second quarter of this year from 27.45% in the first quarter and 10.94% in the fourth quarter.
The same report indicated that the metal ores under mining and quarrying sector grew by 7.16% in the second quarter of 2018 from 45.94% in the first quarter and 31.86% in the fourth quarter of 2017.
As enablers and regulators of the sector, ours was to ensure we put an enabling environment for private sector driven mining activity and we have a very good and robust law that have been tested and reputed to be business friendly.
That law (The Mining Act) is a law that will attract investors who are serious about investing in Nigeria.
As part of federal government’s incentive for encouraging investors, investors are guaranteed 100% ownership of their businesses, with a 3-5 years tax holidays, a duty free importation of mining equipments and we ensured that licenses are given on a first come, first served basis.
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