The Chairman, Fassoca Gems and Mineral International, Mr Niyi Abe, on Tuesday said the Federal Government could create job opportunities by improving the solid mineral sector.
The Gemstone expert said the sector has the potential to boost the Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to significant level within a short time.
Abe, a geologist, said Nigeria was endowed with abundant and untapped mineral resources, saying “solid mineral sector is the future of the nation’s economy’’.
He said Nigeria had different types of solid minerals that could be used for jewellery and other industrial use that could fetch more foreign exchange than crude oil.
“The future of Nigeria depends on solid minerals; it requires more values such as equipment to make it viable to boost our economy and to create job opportunity for the youth,’’ Abe said.
According to him, Nigerian miners need lots of equipment and training to transform from just mining raw minerals to finished products.
“Foreign investors buy and export our minerals in raw form and convert them into different jewellery and import them to Nigeria as finished goods. Foreign investors are more interested in buying our raw minerals; they are not ready to teach or assist us to convert our minerals to finished goods. We need to add value to our minerals instead of selling them raw because what we sell for one dollar can be sold for 50 dollars if polished and converted to jewellery,’’ he explained.
Abe said lack of grants and equipment was part of the challenges facing Nigerian miners, stressing the need for government to create environment conducive for the sector’s development.
He, therefore, urged government at all levels to make policies that would ensure access to fund from financial institutions and attract more investors.
Abe said that financial institutions had failed to grant loans to miners due to lack of knowledge about the industry.
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