We invested N700m on IT infrastructure, civil works, not website —Mines Ministry

THE Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, on Sunday, debunked the news making the round, especially on social media, that the ministry spent a sum of N700 million creating a website for itself.

This was contained in a statement issued and signed by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mohammed Abbas, a copy of which was made available to the Nigerian Tribune in Abuja, on Sunday.

The statement said the ministry used the money to acquire an integrated IT infrastructure, which comprised two Data Centres, an off-site recovery centre, civil and environmental works on the centres, running of the centres till end of first quarter 2018, training of over 225 officials locally and internationally amongst other cost components of the entire infrastructure and programme.

It lamented that it was indeed disingenuous of anyone to reinvent and reduce all of these into an expenditure on a website, saying with the unveiling of the IT Integrated Automation and Interactive Solid Minerals Portal (IAISMP), last Thursday, the ministry was really fulfilling one of the short-term pledges listed in its roadmap.

According to the statement, the assets formed critical pillars of the agenda to reform the mining and minerals sector, particularly as a key step towards the vision to lead the sector to shared mining prosperity where we make significant contributions to GDP in the country.

“In realising aspects of this project as a turnkey solution, we have been careful to follow all laid down processes. Since the cost of implementing the project is above ministerial limits, we sought and obtained the concurrence of the Federal Executive Council after a detailed presentation in January 2017.

“In the course of the project, we have emphasised the need for stakeholders’ interface, which included a facility inspection tour for reporters and journalists who cover the sector. We have no reason to commit public resources to projects that will not advance the cause of repositioning our sector and we believe that we did everything to intimate the general public about our activities in this respect.

“We continue to be open to checks and to present ourselves to public scrutiny. We want to assure all Nigerians that we do not take lightly the confidence reposed in us or in our government nor would do anything to undermine our reputation under whatever guise,” the statement endorsed by the Permanent Secretary stressed.