By Dipo Olowookere
While Nigeria’s economy and external sector have long been dominated by oil and petroleum, the country is currently seeking to tap into the extensive reserves of solid minerals such as gold, tin, coal and others.
But adopting and domesticating the African Mining Vision (AMV) will contribute to laying the institutional groundwork and cementing strong accountability mechanisms that are vital for Nigeria’s plans to expand mineral investment and production.
In a presentation was made during the 6th Sustainability in the Extractive Industries (SITEI) conference, hosted by CSR-in-Action in Abuja, John Sloan of the African Minerals Development Center (AMDC) made a presentation on the AMV and noted that it is “the only African-owned transformative framework on minerals, which advocates for inclusiveness and linkages with other job-creating sectors”.
He added that AMDC, as the implementing agent of the AMV, works with emerging mineral producers similar to Nigeria in laying the groundwork for the sector to link with manufacturing and high-value services in upstream and downstream activities.
To successfully harness minerals for inclusive development, however, governance of the sector must depart from the problems, which have in the past plagued the extraction and distribution of oil rents.
The two-day Conference was opened by Dr Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, and Dr Kayode Fayemi, Minister of Mines and Steel Development, who stressed that it will be important to learn lessons from Nigeria’s experiences in oil and apply these in future mineral production.
The conference was attended by delegates of the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, private sector representatives and members of civil society.
Adedapo Adesanya