Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has urged Britain to take advantage of the abundant mineral deposits in Nigeria and enabling environment to invest in the country’s mining sector.
Fayemi, who addressed British parliamentarians and investors at a session organised by the All-Party Parliamentarian Group on Nigeria at the Parliament, Westminster in London recently, told foreign investors to shun negative views about Nigeria.
According to a statement issued on Saturday by the Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister, Olayinka Oyebode, Fayemi said President Muhammadu Buhari is at the forefront of the efforts to convince investors that Nigeria is open for investment.
He added that the President’s diplomatic engagement had helped in giving the country a new image as a worthwhile investment destination.
Specifically, Fayemi urged the British investors to consider the country’s mining sector for investment, even as he categorised the country’s mineral deposits into five groups: industrial minerals (such as barite, kaolin limestone); energy minerals (such as bitumen and uranium); metallic ore minerals (gold, iron ore , copper), construction minerals (granite, gravel) and precious stones (sapphire, emerald, topaz).
“In 2015, the sector contributed approximately 0.33 per cent to the gross domestic product of the country. This contribution is a reversal from historically higher percentages (about 4-5 per cent in the 1960s to the ’70s). Our policy goal is to return to a contribution level of 5 – 7 per cent over the next 10 to 15 years, and the recently approved Medium Term Expenditure Framework and the Fiscal Strategy Paper is supportive of this aspiration,” Fayemi said.
The minister, who noted Britain’s involvement in the development of mining in Jos and Enugu dating back to 1902, urged the country to invest in Nigeria’s steel sector.
He assured them that the steel sector has the potential to grow to $15 billion per annum “with increased industrialisation driven by our domestic feedstock, which constitutes the second largest iron ore reserves in Africa.”
“We project a steady increase in demand for steel in Nigeria in the coming decade, driven by increased industrialisation that will ignite a surge in building construction, power, automotive construction, agriculture, road and bridge building, military technology and infrastructure development, refinery investments, and other heavy duty machinery,” Fayemi stated.
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