Dr Oladele Alake, the Minister of Solid Minerals development after a preliminary survey conducted by GeoScan, estimated the worth of minerals hidden under the Nigerian soil to be more than $750bn leading the way to trillions of dollars. He blamed ‘powerful Nigerians’ for the illegal mining activities and acts of terrorism going on in different parts of the country, debunking the notion that foreigners were to blame.
The future of Nigeria’s economy hangs precariously in the balance as the solid minerals sector lays open to the siege of, illegal operators, vandals and other criminals. NEITI director of technical, Dr Dieter Bassi on Raypower FM, said Nigeria is losing $2bn—$3 bn to illegal mining annually, accepting that the figure may not be comprehensive.
Nigeria has been acclaimed to be home to about 44 solid minerals in commercial quantity with all the 36 states blessed with at least one or more of such minerals. Notable among these minerals are gold, diamond, lead, zinc, iron ore, coal, topaz, bitumen, marble, granite, talc, bauxite, gemstones, etc. The mineral sector offers an opportunity for growth, national growth, and development.
Prior to Independence, mining solid minerals such as coal, columbite, tin, lead, and zinc contributed to about 45 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. However, today solid minerals add less than five per cent to the GDP. Nigeria is lagging behind in the solid minerals sector as it focuses largely on oil since its discovery in Oloibiri in 1956 and its lack of political will to rein in illegal operators.
Dr Alake in addressing this stressed that the sector offers great promises and is poised to become the nation’s next cash cow after oil and that under him, the governance structures to realizethis vision were being set up. His efforts to curb illegal mining with his team has been shown to yield fruitful results. TheFederal government’s actions have also not gone unnoticed as under them over 200 illegal mining suspects have been arrested, and 133 prosecutions ongoing with illegally mined minerals confiscated and forfeited.
