Fayemi Lists His Achievements As Minister Of Mines

Fayemi Lists His Achievements As Minister Of Mines

Kayode Fayemi, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, said that the revenue from exports in the mining sector increased by 592 per cent between 2016 and 2017.

Mr Fayemi made this known while giving account of his stewardship in the last two years on Wednesday in Abuja.

He also announced his resignation to enable him prepare for the July governorship election in Ekiti where he is the APC candidate.

He said that the sector also recorded a seven per cent increase in Gross Domestic Products (GDP) in 2016, in spite of the country being in recession.

The minister said that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), had also recently affirmed the contribution made by the sector.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the ministry had improved productivity of the sector by tripling its contribution to the federation account from N700 million in 2015 to about N2 billion in 2016.

Mr Fayemi had in 2016, promised to generate more than N3 billion through mining fees and royalty by 2017, but the ministry, however, contributed N3.5 billion to the Federation Account in 2017.

According to him, his stewardship in the ministry has been strategic as it coincided with the present administration’s determination to reposition the Minerals and Metals Sector to serve as a frontier of economic diversification.

Mr Fayemi said the broad mandates were to increase the revenue generated from the sector and its contribution to the national GDP.

“We were asked to develop the sector and improve its capacity to create jobs and broaden the range of economic opportunities available to Nigerians.

“To promote peace and unity in the country by working to ensure that all stakeholders in the sector, especially host communities and state governments are able to beneficially participate in the sector,’’ he said.

He said his administration achieved numerous successes, such as the development of the Roadmap for the Growth and Development of the Nigerian Mining Sector.

Others include, improved funding for the sector, adding that it got a N30 billion intervention fund from the Natural Resources Development Fund, $150 million from World Bank Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification (MSSED or MinDiver) support.

According to him, the ministry has reached an advanced stage in assembling $600 million from the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, the Nigerian Stock Exchange and other financial institutions.

He said his administration also addressed weak institutional capacity, set in motion parameters to decentralise the operations of the cadastre office by establishing six regional outposts for the Mining Cadastre Office to further fast-track the procurement of licenses and titles.

“We have also improved collaboration between the ministry and our security agencies, especially the Nigeria Customs Service to address illegal exportation and smuggling of minerals and the NSCDC in checkmating cases of illegal mining activities.’’

Abubakar Bwari, the Minister of State, said the minister was able to address a lot of challenges they met on assumption of office. He said the ministry that used to be a dry land had been turned around by Fayemi.

(NAN)