THE Federal Government, on Tuesday, stated that, for Nigeria to come out of its current economic doldrums, only private sector holds key to that integration.
Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi made this disclosure in Abuja at the 53rd Annual International Conference and Exhibition of the Nigerian Society for Mining and Geosciences.
Delivering his keynote address tagged, “Extractive Industry: The Imperatives for Wealth Creation and Employment”, the minister further submitted that for Nigeria to witness economic growth on a sustained basis, it must successfully integrate itself into global markets.
According to him, “for a country to grow, it has to be part of the global goods and services market and it must also be able to access global capital, and it is the private sector that holds the key to that integration.
“If the private sector is going to deliver its full development potential in this regard, then we need to get the climate right for both domestic and foreign investment. If the private sector is to be the real engine of growth in a developing country like ours, the business leaders of tomorrow are going to emerge and lead the way; we must work together as partners to get some critical prerequisites in place. If academia is going to remain relevant, it must build links
with industry and government in a mutually beneficial manner”, he disclosed.
Dr Fayemi then announced that the aspiration of the present administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari was to build a world class minerals and mining ecosystem designed to serve a targeted domestic and export market for minerals and ores.
The minister said that the government would also achieve this by focusing on Nigeria’s minerals, mining and related processing industry over a three-phase period.
“Nigeria will seek to rebuild market confidence in its minerals and mining sector and win over domestic users of industrial minerals that are currently imported. During this Phase, Nigeria will also seek to expand use of its energy minerals. This phase will likely last about two to three years.
“Nigeria will focus on expanding our domestic ore and mineral asset processing industry. This phase will last about five to ten years.
Nigeria should seek to return to global ore and mineral markets at a market competitive price point. We expect this to coincide with the next commodity upswing.
“To create wealth and build an economy something needs to be created-whether it is commodity products, agriculture, mining or mass production-wealth only comes from creation. Services do not build an economy, they assist in distributing the wealth of the creators”, he added.
He said it was heartwarming that President Buhari had continuously reiterated the commitment of his administration to the diversification of the revenue base of the country, adding that, “expectedly attention has shifted towards non-oil export such as solid minerals and
agriculture as remediating strategy for bringing back our ailing economy.
The minister said to rebuild the sector and unlock its full potential, the ministry was pursuing a focused strategic agenda.
“Last year, when I attended your conference in Ilorin, I gave an assessment of what I found and our plans for rebuild the sector. That plan was recently articulated in a roadmap that will guide how we grow the industry over the next 2 decades”, he announced.
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