The President of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS), Professor Akande Olatunji, has pointed out that the contributions of the mining sector to the GDP are not properly captured by the Bureau for Statistics.
Addressing newsmen ahead of the Society’s 59th Annual International Conference and Exhibition slated for Jos Plateau State, Professor Olatunji, who stated that the mining sector’s potential to become the mainstay of the Nigerian economy and contribute to the GDP is high, said that if illegal activities within the sector are tackled through the implementation of the existing legal framework, the sector has what it takes to boost the country’s GDP.
“The GDP contributions to the mining sector are more than what the Bureau of Statistics is quoting. If you add the number of licences that have been granted, calculate the number that is active, and look at the number of people employed, if all these are properly calculated, we would have more than what is actually being pushed forward by the Bureau for Statistics.”
He suggested that the government must fund the sector and create an enabling environment that will make the sector attractive and less dungeon-like.
On the activities of the illegal miners, the NMGS President pointed out that anywhere there are solid minerals, there must be scavengers, adding that if the law guiding the operations were fully implemented, it would minimise the illegal activities going on within the sector.
He said, ” Anywhere mining is going on, there are always scavengers. Here in Nigeria, we have the law, but we have always implemented such a law on the bridge without compliance. The law is very clear. If you do anything contrary, you are supposed to be prosecuted and jailed. The solution is to implement the law, but the question is: how do we catch these people?
‘One of the obstacles militating against this illegal mining is a lack of adequate manpower.
The Mining Inspectorate Office needs to be fully equipped for effective monitoring; there must be manpower and mobility to do this effectively.
“We should stop paying lip service to stop this illegal mining; we should be ready to spend heavily on retooling and equipping the mining inspectorate office.
Nigeria is losing a lot of money through the activities of illegal miners, so to stop illegal mining, we must invest in the sector. Anybody caught, no matter how connected he is, should be dealt with according to the available law.
He added that there is nothing ambiguous about who controls mining between the States and the federal government, adding that the law clearly spells out that mining is on an exclusive list.
“The law says mining is on an exclusive list; if the states are not happy with the law the way it is, they can call their representatives in the National Assembly to sponsor a bill, and they can do this if they are united, but until the law is changed, we must obey the law. The interference is sending negative messages to the people out there. Unless the law is changed, we must stick to the provision of the law,” he said
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