FG should hands off solid mineral development – expert

Mr. Samuel Ekeledo is an Abuja based mining consultant, and CEO at Samgreen Resources Nig Ltd. While commending the past minister of mines and steel development, Architect Mohammed Sada for developing the Road Map for the Development of the Solid Minerals and Metal Sector, he insists that there is more to Nigeria’s dream of making headway in the sector than just the road map document. In this interview with Chidinma Chukwu, he said President Muhammadu Buhari should consider distancing the federal government from solid mineral exploration and development as it will enable the states to have effective control the pockets of excavations going on around the country
Federal government prepared the road map to the development of the mining sector. Ordinarily, Nigerian should have been benefitting immensely from the fortunes from that sector.

What do you think is wrong?
Developing the road map is not enough. What we have is a beautiful document which the author and owner is not really interested in. for Nigeria’s dream of developing the sector to materialize, we need to provide the necessary infrastructure that would enable players in that sector to perform maximally.
Nigeria’s real blessing from nature is in solid minerals not in oil. It is supposed to be Nigeria’s most powerful foreign exchange earner, and I think the government of President Muhammadu Buhari should focus on development in that sector.
Minerals and metals are essential to the modern industrial activities necessary for global development and improvement of quality of life. The exploration and exploitation of Nigeria’s available solid minerals resources is an important component of a diversified economy.

 
The solid minerals sector possess great potential for driving the diversification of Nigeria economy considering the very rich minerals endowment that the country is blessed with which include metallic- gold, iron ore, cassiterite, columbite/tantalite, lead- zinc & copper ores.
We also have industrial minerals- limestone Baryte(oil industry), kaolin, other clays(Ceramics Tiles). Nigeria also has energy minerals- coal, bitumen, exotic gemstones and dimension stones. They are all over the country especially the northern parts of the country
What are the infrastructures that you said must be provided to support the mining and metal development road map?
Nigerian must be committed to providing good roads, rail lines, power, etc. All over the world, where the solid minerals sectors have been strategically developed, there was a comprehensive effort to provide the basic infrastructure which will naturally thrive the policy.
Nigeria must develop viable seaports. If you have coal in Lokoja, for instance, effort must be made to provide a road or rail line from there straight to any of the existing seaports in Nigeria, where there is none in Lokoja. Same goes to any other location in Nigeria
The beautiful about solid minerals is that it contains high export value and high potential for foreign exchange, than it is needed locally. In other words, what we (Nigeria) need of what is excavated is far less than what is left for export. The real market for solid mineral is outside the country. I dare say that we don’t even know what to do with them in terms of developing or utilizing them, as much as the developed world.
The Ajaokuta Steel Company, for instance, the capacity of that complex can take of steel needs in the entire West Africa. So, unlike the oil sector, in the solid mineral sector, we are likely to earn more than we need
Don’t you see the development of the stated infrastructure a tall order in Nigeria given the pedigree of succeeding government?
Unfortunate I don’t. We can project to earn say one trillion dollars from the sector in the next three years. All we need to do is to provide a quarter of that amount for the establishment of the infrastructure. We that amount we can take care our seaports, rehabilitate and restructure the rail system, reconstruct the roads, rebuild power etc.
Remember that these infrastructures are still there for us to use as a nation. We are not going to build fresh roads or rail lines etc. That is the beauty of what is being recommended.
In other economies, mining is big business. When you locate a mining site, it goes with serious infrastructure. For instance, if you have visited the Ajaokuta Steel Company, you will notice that provision is made for schools, religious places, good roads, markets, shopping plazas, recreation places, parks, banks and everything a typical human community will need without going elsewhere.
The coal site in Enugu is another example.

The site literally brought railway to Enugu and from there straight to the wharf in Port Harcourt. The site erected with the human community around the area, being the workers and their families
It is a huge investment on the side of government. That is what a typical mining location should look like. It is such an investment that in some economies, like South Africa, when miners sneeze, the economy catches cold
Currently, mining is said to be basically in foreign hands. Government is being accused of favouring mostly foreign investors, while local investors are groaning. How do you see this assertion?
I agree with that, and that is because foreigners, more than Nigerians, tend to understand what to do with what we have here. Many Nigerians are used to quick money. They don’t think about going into heavy equipment and infrastructure assembly needed to the business in the sector. Go and check, in most of the locations that foreigners and doing the mining business, the roads, electricity, water, telecom etc., there, were constructed by the foreign firms, with the local communities agitating for more.

 
In any case, check again, most the locations currently operated by the foreign firms are with short radius to the highways. They rarely go far into the forest were the big sites exist. Even with the activities of the foreign firms, much of what is going on today as mining in Nigeria is artisanal mining. It is peripheral; and virtually all the Nigerians in the business are doing artisanal mining. So at the end of the day, you discover that the business is currently under developed in Nigeria.
Let me inform you that there are so many licences issued by the federal government that are not in use. Why is it so? I think it is high time the federal government begin to ask questions. In this era when state governments are crying about funds, it may be expedient to ask the federal government to hands off the administration of business in the sector.

 
Why do you suggest that the federal government should hands off the solid minerals development sector?
It is obvious that the federal government is too busy with politics and oil. If you go to many places around the country, illegal mining takes place without anyone why one asking why, or how. The states need the revenue from solid minerals, and they have the local capacity to monitor activities in the sector. It will increase their internally generated revenue base
It is clear that federal government does not have the capacity to carry on with the management of solid mineral sector.
I urge President Buhari look revisit the Solid Mineral Road Map with the view to putting the right infrastructure to power the sector