Nigeria has continued to export raw minerals instead of processed products from them as a result of lack of requisite infrastructure locally, experts have said.
Nigeria has identified at least 34 solid minerals that are available in the country in commercial quantities, but most of them end up being exported in their raw states, which reduces their export values.
Ime Ekrikpo, director of steel at the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, expressed concern over this at an event in Lagos recently.
“Minerals are available in Nigeria and are being exploited either formally or informally. But the big question is: why are we not adding values to these commodities prior to export?” he queried, when he represented the Minister of State, Abubakar Bwari.
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According to him, a significant quantity of the mineral resources is being mined on small and artisanal scale and exported in raw form.
He noted that if more value chains were added from mining to exportation, the industry would create more jobs and significantly contribute to the nation’s economy.
“One or two additional values to them will generate a lot of employment, an improved skills and technical capacities of Nigerians,” he said.
He posited that the mining sector has been identified as the sector that will help in repositioning and facilitating government efforts and source as additional revenue for the nation.
However, lack of infrastructure has been identified as the major reason why mineral resources are not locally processed in Nigeria.
Oyewola Oworu, a consultant geologist at Walled Resources, Lagos, said the nation lacks infrastructure to support the processing operations locally. Some of these are good roads for transportation, electricity and machinery. “It is not that the technology is not available; we know the technology. But the environment is not friendly to encourage local processing,” he said.
In addition to infrastructure, according to Oworu, government needs to formulate workable policies that can encourage local productions.
Policies that will discourage people from taking raw minerals out of the country without having facilities to process such materials in the country will facilitate local production, which will create enormous jobs and increase the nation’s income.
According to Ekrikpo, as at 2016, mining sector contributed 0.6 percent to the nation’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP), improving from the initial 0.03 percent.
According to the director, the figures for 2017 and 2018 were not yet out as the ministry was still liaising with the relevant government agencies for the
According to him, the revenue is purely the income from the license fees, taxes and royalties paid by investors in the mining industry.
To promote ease of doing business, the ministry has created a department to facilitate mining investment in the country.
“We’ve strengthened ease of doing business by establishing a specific department to help promote mineral trade and investment in mining and steel industry in Nigeria,” he said.
JOSEPH MAURICE OGU
