Mines ministry contributes N7.8bn to GDP –official

The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development (MMSD) said on Monday that it contributed N7.8 billion to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2021.

The Director of the Ministry’s Department of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM), Mr Patrick Ojeka, made the disclosure to the Nigerian News Agency in Abuja.

Ojeka said that the N7.8 billion was made through his agencies and departments.

According to him, the Mining Cadastre Office (MCO), a ministry agency, contributed substantially to the amount.

remember that MCO, in a recent press conference, revealed that it earned N4.3 billion as revenue in 2021.

MCO is an autonomous government agency that is responsible for managing and administering mineral titles.

Ojeka said that the ministry’s contribution to GDP in 2021 is unprecedented compared to its previous contributions.

“The ministry, in its effort to put the sector where it belongs, has drawn up a roadmap,” said Minister and incumbent Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi.

“The roadmap made the sector attractive to investors and has set it on the path of growth and development.

“Fayemi also agreed to N30 billion for the ministry. It was a great achievement; the fund helped lift the sector’s performance to a higher level,” he said.

The director said that the current ministers in the MMSD have also done well since they took office, adding that the ministry had never contributed that much to GDP in the past.

According to him, the ministry will soon start capturing the biometrics of more than 2,000 artisanal miners who registered with cooperatives across the country.

He said the essence of biometric capture was knowing their locations and monitoring their operations.

“Biometrics will help locate and apprehend artisanal miners who commit crimes; will help locate where they are conducting mining operations.

“Currently, the ministry has formalized the operations of more than 2,000 artisanal miners who have registered with different cooperatives. We want to go beyond formalization; we want to have your biometric data.

“We have purchased biometric equipment that will soon be deployed in the field for the exercise and we will issue them Identity Cards.

“We realized that some artisanal miners have been formalized several times for their movement from one field to another, but biometrics from now on will prevent double formalization.

“The Federal Government does not call artisanal miners ‘illegal miners’; they are miners who scratch the surface of the earth to earn a living. We call them artisanal miners.

“To the extent that they have formalized into cooperatives, they can access small-scale mining licenses from the MCO to run a full mining operation,” he said.

Ojeka said an agreement has been reached with artisanal miners operating on tenancies (land) belonging to mining investors to sell the minerals extracted on the tenancies to the investors.