The Federal Government
through the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development has secured $150 million
(N45.7 billion) aid from the World Bank to develop the mineral sector.
The aid is for Mineral
Support for Economic Diversification (MSSED) or MinDiver programme.
The Minister of Mines
and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi who disclosed this in Abuja said the
ministry was working with the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, the
Nigerian Stock Exchange and other institutions to assemble a $600 million
investment fund for the sector by the first quarter of 2017.
According to Fayemi: “We have secured support from the World Bank for the funding of $150 million Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification or MinDiver programme. A critical component of the support is to provide technical assistance for the restructuring of the Solid Minerals Development Mining Investment Fund.
“The fund will also
help to bring back on stream previously abandoned mining projects like tin ore,
iron ore, coal, gold and lead-zinc among others.”
The minister said the
sector had witnessed positive developments in the last one year, including a
major improvement in the ministry’s contribution to the Federation Account to
about N2 billion in 2016, up from N700 million in 2015.
He added that increased
productivity in mining had also led to significant discovery of mineral
deposits, notably high-grade nickel recently in Dangoma, Kaduna State by an
Australian company operating in Nigeria.
Fayemi further revealed
that government had constructed 10 prototype mineral buying centres across the
country for specific industrial minerals.
“These are to serve as
standardisation centres to enable cooperatives and operators to receive fair
premium for their efforts,” he said.
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