The Federal Government is targeting to rake in N141 billion as sectoral contribution of from Minerals and Metals to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2020.
The target, if achieved, would imply increased contribution by the mining sector to the GDP, up from the N103 billion generated in 2015 and representing an average annual growth rate of 8.54 per cent.
Setting the target at the inauguration of the newly constituted Boards of agencies and parastatals under his ministry in Abuja yesterday, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, listed other targets for the sector to include the facilitation of Coal to Power Plants to contribute to our energy mix towards bridging the energy deficits.
The minister said: “The mining sector remains crucial as one of the frontiers of the Federal Government’s recently launched ‘Economic Recovery & Growth Plan (2017-2020)’, in which the Minerals and Metals sector was duly recognised as one of those to drive Nigeria’s recovery.
“The strategic document projected to grow sectoral contribution to GDP from N103 billion (2015) to N141 billion in 2020, at an average annual growth rate of 8.54 per cent. Consequently, the ministry has been selected as one of the critical players in the ERGP Focus Labs about to be launched by Mr. President this week.
“Other targets for the sector include the facilitation of Coal to Power Plants to contribute to our energy mix towards bridging our energy deficits; the production of geological maps of the entire country by 2020 on a scale of 1:100,000; as well as the sustainable integration of artisanal miners into the formal sector.
“Moreover, we are being guided by other far reaching prescriptions contained in our ‘Roadmap for the Growth and Development of the Mining Industry’, which was approved in August, 2016 by the Federal Executive Council, which provides a pathway for the sustainable turnaround and growth of the mining and metals sector over the short, medium, and long term”, Fayemi added.
Noting that institutional strengthening and effective sector governance is one of the major themes that run through the roadmap, the minister said that the inauguration of the Boards was coming at a time government had commenced the full operationalisation of the Roadmap, as well as the implementation of the World Bank supported Mineral Diversification Project.
He, therefore, charged the board members to demonstrate patriotism by playing their parts as crucial enablers in the industry, towards advancing a common vision for the revitalisation of the sector.
In all, four board chairmen and 53 members were inaugurated into the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA), National Steel Raw materials Exploration Agency (NSRMEA), National Metallurgical Development Center (NMDC) and Council of Nigerian Mining Engineers and Geoscientists (COMEG).
