Mines Ministry Tasks SMDF On Mandate

The Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF) has been urged to keep up its efforts towards achieving the mandate for which it was set up.

The new permanent secretary in the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development (MMSD) Dr Mary Ogbe, who made this call while on a familiarisation visit to the headquarters of the Fund in Abuja yesterday, expressed satisfaction at the level the reforms being pursued at the Fund has achieved so far.

She, however, told the interventionist agency not to rest on its oars until the purpose for its establishment begins to manifest in the growth of the economy and the wellbeing of the people.

Ogbe, who visited the Fund in the company of directors and other relevant members of staff of the ministry, commended the progress made so far by the Fund, maintaining that there was no room for relenting in the effort to grow the country economically as such is the sector’s primary mandate.

She therefore urged the executive secretary of the Fund, Hajiya Fatima Umaru Shinkafi, and her team not to relent in the efforts, adding that the sector cannot stop making progress until all Nigerians begin to enjoy the benefits of a developed economy.

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She said, “Definitely you’ve achieved so much, but you know, you will not stop achieving until everyone in Nigeria is happy, and food is coming to the table. And that is the goal of all of us that God has given the opportunity to be in the place of leadership.

“So we look forward to more robust work; we’ll keep asking for a much more robust relationship and association just to be able to achieve the mandate that’s been given to all of us, both the ministry and the SMDF together. We need to work together to achieve this mandate. So I thank you for having us here.”

Speaking to the main objective of the visit, Ogbe said, “We come here with a great pleasure to familiarise ourselves with the fund. I must say that the relationship with the ministry has been symbiotic, mutual. We’ve worked together to try to bring the ministry and all its agencies together and that’s the way it should be, with the focus being the development of the country.

Speaking earlier, Shinkafi told her guest that in a bid to close the wide gaps across all aspects of the sector when she came on board as the executive secretary, reforms were initiated, which had reached an advanced state of implementation, especially the effort to replace the Act establishing the Fund as it is now outdated and counterproductive.

“We are having this as part of our intra-ministerial collaboration. We have had crucial reforms at SMDF. Upon my appointment, I met existing gaps with regards to best practices for a development fund. Gaps across the mandate, gaps across governance, gaps across funding, gaps across risk management and investment processes that needed reform attention. Organisational structure, capabilities of the Fund, and back end processes -all needed to be addressed. This was back in 2017.

“In 2020, we completed the reorganisation and engagement with the private sector as well as government institutions on what best suits Nigeria as a fund. We are at the last quarter of our implementation on those reforms.

“And the main lever that is left from those recommendations is an amendment to the law. So everything that we were recommended to do, we have done within the ambit of the law. Whatever is left is what needs to be amended through the law. And a federal executive bill was approved that went to the House of Representatives for legislative processes to take effect,” the SMDF boss explained.