By SUNDAY ABBA, Abuja
The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) says in furtherance of its commitment to sanitise and reposition the solid minerals sector of the economy, it will collaborate with Africa Finance Corporation, AFC, through the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, on data gathering to de-risk investment towards the realisation of the Nigerian project of becoming a mining destination on the global stage.
Minister for Solid Minerals, Dr Oladele Alake, made this known while receiving the President/CEO, AFC, Mr Samaila Zubairu on a courtesy call at the headquarters of the ministry in Abuja.
In a statement signed by the head of Press and Public Relations, Alaba Balogun, Dr Alake said as part of the data gathering strategies, the ministry would consolidate on the already existing robust partnership between corporation and the Solid minerals Development Fund, SMDF, an agency under the ministry, to develop the necessary data needed to harness the $700bn minerals value underground under the Big Data Strategy.
The Minister said every effort being made to through policies and programmes to make Nigeria a destination for Solid Minerals Development will be futile if the nation didn’t improve on data gathering.
”We will invest heavily in data generation, concise and precise data generation, that will enable investors make informed decisions,” he said.
The Minister, seized the opportunity of the visit to hint at initiatives by the SMDF and the AFC to catalyse the development of the mineral sector under their partnership.
He said “These initiatives directly support Mr President’s Renewed Hope agenda, particularly in foreign direct investment, job creation and increased fiscal revenues.
“The agreement is a critical win under the recently announced Transformation Agenda as it directly supports establishing processing centres to focus on value- added products ”.
While acknowledging the growing collaboration between the AFC and Solid and the SMDF aimed at identifying and supporting development of mining projects in Nigeria, Dr Alake said the visit of the CEO of AFC underscores how critical the mining sector is to Nigeria’s economic growth and prosperity.
Speaking earlier,the President/CEO of AFC, Mr Samaila Zubairu, said the quantum and value of Nigeria’s solid minerals have made it imperative to develop a framework of partnering with the ministry to grow the sector for rapid economic development of the country.
The AFC President pledged the corporation’s support for the BIG Data project, value added processing centres, efforts to end insecurity, as well as local mining companies.