Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has urged Britain to take advantage of the abundant mineral deposits in Nigeria and the enabling environment being created by the Muhammadu Buhari administration to invest in the country’s mining sector.
Fayemi, who addressed the British parliamentarians and investors at a session organized by the All-Party Parliamentarian Group on Nigeria at the British Parliament, urged them to shun negative views about the country, which according to him, are usually unduly exaggerated, Yahoo reported.
He reinstated the commitment of the present administration to making solid minerals a major revenue earner and a vehicle for job creation in the country.
“In 2015, the sector contributed approximately 0.33% to the gross domestic product of the country. This contribution is a reversal from historically higher percentages (about 4-5% in the 1960s-70s). Our policy goal is to return to a contribution level of 5%-7% over the next 10–15 years,” Fayemi said.
He urged the British investors to consider the country’s mining sector for investment, even as he categorized the country’s mineral deposits into five groups: industrial minerals (such as barite, kaolin limestone); energy minerals (such as bitumen and uranium); metallic ore minerals (gold, iron ore , copper), construction minerals (granite, gravel) and precious stones ( sapphire, emerald, topaz).
He also assured them that the steel sector has the potential to grow to $15 billion per annum “with increased industrialization driven by our domestic feedstock, which constitutes the second largest iron ore reserves in Africa”.
He said the ministry has put in place a strategy to jumpstart market growth, using a blend of domestic mining houses, mining companies and junior global miners.
