The minister for solid minerals development, Dr Dele Alake has called for legislative support in entrenching local value addition in the mineral sector.
He said it will generate massive employment and beneficiation to mineral endowed communities.
Dr Alake disclosed this Tuesday during an oversight visit by the House Committee on Solid Minerals led by its chairman, Hon Jonathan Gbefwi, to the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development.
Bringing the visitors up to date on recent activities and programmes of the Ministry, Alake explained that value addition and mineral processing as a key point of the Ministry’s seven-point agenda.
In a statement by Alaba R. Balogun, deputy director, Information and press of the ministry, the minister said value addition offers enormous benefits to a mineral endowed country like Nigeria by providing jobs and maximizing natural resources.
He alluded to his recent successful promotional tours to mining conferences in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Cape Town, South Africa, to canvas for local value addition.
Alake informed House Committee members that the campaign led to the coalition that gave rise to the African Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG) and his unanimous election as its pioneer chairman.
‘’The era of carting away solid minerals without commensurate value addition is over,” he said.
The minister further emphasised the primacy and centrality of security to achieving economic development in the country, citing the recent meeting of the Presidential Inter-Ministerial Committee on securing natural resources and the launch of a new security outfit by the interior minister, using the Nigeria Security Civil Defence Corps to combat illegal mining.
‘’It cannot be overstated that security is a national issue, securing lives and property before business is paramount in our seven-point agenda’’, the minister asserted.
In his speech, the chairman, House Committee on Solid Minerals, Jonathan Gbefwi, asserted that the visit to the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development was in fulfillment of its oversight duty, asserting that importance of the mineral sector to the economy cannot be overemphasized.
“It is the only sector that can rescue Nigeria from its economic doldrums,’’ he said, saying that the lawmakers will do all that is needed to support the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development to bring the sector to its glorious heights.
