The Federal Government at the weekend expressed its commitment to continuously improve the diversification of the nation’s economy by growing other sectors, particularly the commodities trading ecosystem.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, who gave this assurance during the presentation of Gold coin to her by the Lagos Futures and Commodities Exchange (LFCE) in Abuja, said the recognition was a testimony that the government’s drive to diversify the economy is gaining traction.
The minister said: “This is really very pleasing for me because we have been trying to improve the diversification of the Nigerian economy. People say we need to diversify the economy, but the Nigerian economy is truly diversified. Our GDP today has 6.4% contribution from the oil and gas sector, so 94.6% of the Nigerian economy is from other sectors. One of the sectors that we have been trying to activate the full potentials is the mining sector.
“The mining sector today is still very small, but that is on the side of government. But in the private sector and now I am glad in the states, there is very active mining activities that is taking place.
“Unfortunately, until now, we have not been getting the full value of the mining activities. Mining activities have been largely artisanal, there is a lot of participants that take out our minerals without reporting it, without government or even the miners getting full value for it”, the minister added.
According to her, as part of the government’s efforts to get the full value of mining activities in the country, the President approved the setting up of the Presidential Gold Mining Scheme which the Solid Minerals Development Agency is leading.
She clarified: “They had set up a pilot that started from Kebbi State where they supported the artisanal miners to be able to practice better mining practices and also to off take the minerals that they mine, and do some first level refining. Then the Central Bank off-takes this and sends it out of the country for proper mining.
“The essence for us is to begin to hold our reserves in minerals like gold so that our reserves are not all in US dollars. We know what happens to US dollars and what can happen to it. We are beginning to have our reserves in gold”.
She disclosed that the scheme, even though it was started by the Federal Government, had increased gold mining and refining activities in the country, citing as example the one in Ilesha, Segilola, which was the first refinery that was licensed in Nigeria.
In his remarks, the Managing Director of LCFE, Mr. Akin Akeredolu-Ale, expressed appreciation to the SEC for all the regulatory support the Commission has provided in recent times.
He said: “I thank the SEC for pushing the Investments and Securities Bill because that is the legal and regulatory framework that is supposed to support the capital market and by default the commodities trading ecosystem.
“We are hoping that the bill is approved so that we are able to have a hold on the commodities space and the revenues that are slipping out of Nigeria. We need that bill passed to be able to function more effectively”, the LCFE boss added.
