Mining: Incorporating measures to coordinate sectoral growth towards diversification
Diversification of the Nigerian economy has come to the fore front among recommended solutions to the wobbling profile of the Nigerian Economy. The arguments have been justified on the ground that the over reliance on oil for, a time too long, have only brought the economy to the heels of vagaries of inconsistencies posed by the waves of global oil prices. The conditioning of the economy by the vagaries of oil prices – a state of order which has positioned the economy to strains of sporadic fluctuations – have seen the economy sliding into recession with fall in oil prices. The 2016 experience and the strains of 2020 foisted by the COVID-19 pandemic saw the economy sliding into recession as global oil prices crashed to as low as below $20 per barrel. Global oil prices at the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown has seen the price of a barrel of benchmark U.S. oil plunged as low as $0 a barrel on Monday, April 20, for the first time in history – a development reports addressed as a troubling sign of an unprecedented global energy glut.
By such development, the frailties of the dependence profile of the Nigerian economy are known to taake blown expression with debilitating impacts. The defects have been the spurring ground for the call for diversification of the economy which has been a resounding submission of experts as the key to addressing the intermittent shocks of the economy. Diversifying the economy base to incorporate strong contributions by virile productivity from other sectors of the economy has come to the fore front. However, it is instructive that such contribution would only take the effect of feasibility with strategic interventions to bring other sectors to the forefront of virile productivity on which the economy can be structured upon.
One of the sectors where potentials have been noted but which have continued to suffer from uncoordinated activities is the mining sector. Vice President of Nigeria, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, had on Tuesday (16th November, 2021) mentioned that the Federal Government is now committed to the revitalisation and development of the mining sector to attract more local and foreign investments. The Vice President who mentioned this in his remarks at the opening of the 5th Annual Nigeria Mining Week Discourse Series, with the theme, “Top Seven Reasons to Invest in Nigeria’s Mining Sector”, stated that within the space of a year, the sector recorded a 26.7% increase in revenue generation from 2019 to 2020.
The Vice President who highlighted notable investments already recorded in the sector recently, stated that: “These investments include Thor Exploration Limited’s Segilola Gold Mine in Osun State, with an initial production capacity of 80,000 ounces of gold annually, representing the first large-scale gold mine in Nigeria. In June last year, I also had the privilege of commissioning the Dukia Gold & Precious Metals Refinery (DGPMR) Project. The Company set out to be a foremost indigenous refiner and trader of gold and other precious metals. Its potential impact on the gold sector is nothing short of revolutionary. By providing off-take opportunities through the establishment of precious metals buying centres, it serves as a spur for more small and medium scale mining investment, while its refinery symbolizes its focus on value addition in the gold and precious metals industry in Nigeria and West Africa.”
It is inarguable that only with coordinated measures with the interconnectivity of concrete policies to drive measures towards engendering virility, that the mining sector can be brought to the fore of productivity as an economy driver. The preponderance of illicit activities and sharp practices by illegal cartels have left the sector at the edge of operations of mischievous elements working for their own personal self aggrandizement against the macro interest of the State. It has become necessary for the Government to take decisive measures to address the leakages and the creaking escapades ravaging the sector while sustaining coordinated interventions to fortify the architectures propelling sectoral indices of growth towards the status of forming a virile base for the economy.
