Mining: Gov’t Should Make Investors Set Up Processing Plants In Nigeria – Prof. Asuquo

The director-general of the Nigeria Metallurgical Development Centre (NMDC), Jos, Plateau State, Professor Linus Asuquo, has called on the federal government to discourage the export of Nigeria’s mineral resources as primary products, saying the practice is making the country earn very little income from her natural endowments.

Prof Asuquo urged the government to mandate investors in Nigeria’s mining sector to set up processing plants in Nigeria so that they can export the minerals as finished products, adding that it is the only way that the country can maximise her earnings from her mineral deposits.

He made this comment while speaking to journalists during the Nigeria-Israeli Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture-organised first ever Solid Mineral Trade Fair, entitled MINEXPO 2023, held in Abuja on January 26 and 27.

The NMDC DG praised the minister of mines and steel development, Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite, for telling foreign investors interested the Nigeria’s lithium deposits that they must establish their processing plants in the country.

According to him, processing the raw products before exporting them significantly increases their value, which, apart from earning greater foreign exchange for the country, also translates into job creation for the terming youths among other economic spinoffs like infrastructure development and skill transmission in affected communities.

He also asserted that the future is bleak if Nigeria does not invest in its solid minerals and that without activating Ajaokuta Steel Mill, the country will not make progress in its industrialisation quest, even as he blamed the country’s leaders’ lack of political will for the underperformance of the mining sector.

Asuquo, who presented a paper on the theme of the event – Thd Role of Organised Private Sector in the Achieving Sustainabe and Inclusive Econmic Growth and Development Through Solid Minerals , pointed out that revenue from solid mineral sector to the country’s GDP had been declining over the years from the colonial and post colonial era when tin and coal were among Nigetia highest income earners.

He presented a table which showed earnings from mining from 2014, which stood at N2.23bn in 2014, and N3.73bn in 2018, rising to N11.29bn in 2022, which, however, pales in significance to South Africa which had a GDP of N5.5 trillion in 2022 from mining in 2022.

Prof Asuquo further observed that among African countries, Nigeria was earning the least value from mining with only 0.5 percent to GDP while Botwana has the highest at 38 percent, adding that with 44 mineral deposits confirmed in Nigeria by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), more is expected of the sector than the paltry 0.5 per cent.

The DG emphasised that the Organised Private Sector ( OPS) has a critical role to play in the nation’s economy, more so in the mining industry.

He said, “There is need for the organised private sector to rise to the occasion and invest in Nigeria’s solid minerals, more so, that solid minerals like Lithium ores, which are driving the world’s economy in the area of lithium battery production, are being discovered in Nigeria.”

He added that the world needs iron ores and that Nigeria has vast deposits of iron ores lying fallow, with proven reserves of over 3 billion metric tonnes.

Professor Ibrahim Garba of the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative (PAGMI) and former vice chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, who also spoke at the event, said policy inconsistencies due to constant changes in leadership in the ministry had not helped matters, adding that government must ensure ease of doing business for the Mining industry to grow.