Roadmap for national mining devt underway

Stakeholders in the mining sector, at the first edition of its National Council meeting in Abuja yesterday, came together to focus on how to move the economy forward through its internally generated revenues.

In his opening remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Mohammed Abbas, elaborated the issues and challenges facing the ministry since 2015.

 

He mentioned low productivity, limited cooperative federalism, insufficient funds, weak ease of doing business and perception issues, these are few amongst many that need to be strategically addressed.

“One of the first critical ways is to put the mining governance articulately right. In spite of all these challenges, the journey so far has been very encouraging. We are able to shift from the old methods to new ones. Today’s revenue from the sector has tremendously increased.

“A cardinal philosophy that has guided government intervention in the mining sector so far has been broad based consultations, and inclusion of stakeholders in the design and implementation of reforms. This partnership approach is what informed the development of our ‘Roadmap for the Growth and Development of the Mining Sector’ which was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC)”.

According to Abbas, “to build on that success, the Ministry sought and obtained FEC approval to establish a National Council of Mining and Mineral Resources development and today we are witnessing the first edition”.

He also appealed that the federal and state government should work together to address issues affecting the sector which borders along illegal mining and poor mining governance among others”.

 

 

 

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