Association urges FG to release N100bn solid mineral dev fund

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Sani Shehu

The National President of Miners Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Sani Shehu on Monday called for the release of N100 billion Solid Mineral Development Fund, to operators in the sector.Shehu told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja, that 1.8 per cent had been set aside in the 2013 budget for the development of natural resources such as agriculture and solid minerals.“We are also aware of what is available for the sector from the annual budgetary deductions.“The fund that has been set aside about 1.8 per cent of our annual budget is set aside for the development of natural resources, that is, for agriculture and solid minerals.“The one that is meant for agriculture has been accessed but the one that has been allocated for development of solid minerals we are yet to access it.“If you are talking of that we can say the federal government has made something available but is yet to be accessed.“From what we heard, over N100 billion is there for solid minerals but is yet to be accessed.“Let me say that the World Bank grant was facilitated by the Federal Government but if you are talking of federal government’s direct intervention in the sector we are yet to see it,” the president said.He said the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development was making effort at accessing the fund which was domiciled with the Ministry of Finance.“The money has a procedure according to what we have heard.“The process, I think it has some legislative procedure where the National Assembly has to make some input just as  the office of the Accountant-General, the  budget office, CBN and so on.’’He urged the government to extend its specific intervention fund initiative to the solid mineral sector to ensure job creation and revenue generation.According to him, similar funds have been made available to agriculture, textile industry and entertainment industry.“The alternative to crude oil is solid mineral.“The diversification issue is there, the federal government needs to diversify in order to take care of unforeseen challenges that may come in that number,” he said.He said that the government needed to develop the sector as it had the capacity to take care of millions of unemployed Nigerians as well as boosting the revenue base of the country.“We have been making repeated calls to the government to diversify the economy.“We are happy with what the government is doing in developing agriculture and transportation.“We are calling on the government to extend a similar package to the solid minerals’ sector,” he said.


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