Minister of State, Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Uchechukwu Ogah, on Friday wooed investors in solid minerals and metals sectors to invest heavily as the sector is the future economy of the country.
Speaking at the 6th edition of the Annual Kaduna Economic and Investment Summit (KADINVEST), Ogah said the summit was an indication that Kaduna State understood the critical roles of the sector in the industrial development of the nation’s economy.
“The giant strides of Kaduna State government in the areas of attracting serious investment into the country and the state in particular have started to yield fruits and I am glad that the minerals & metals sector through Messrs. African Natural Resource Group and others has become an encouragement to other investors.
“President Muhammadu Buhari, our leader has not hidden his passion to provide the needed support to states that have demonstrated capacity to stimulate economic activities and Kaduna State under your leadership has been a shining example.
“Kaduna State has also keyed into Mr. President’s vision of diversifying the Nigerian economy through the agricultural and minerals sectors and we are resolved to give necessary support as the regulator cum administrator of the mining industry.
“I want to specially thank the organizers of Kadinvest 6.0 for the warm welcome accorded me and my delegation since our arrival into the state and I want to once again reiterate our readiness to collaborate with the state. In my brief remarks this morning, we will be looking at the position of Kaduna State in the mineral map of Nigeria, possible areas of collaboration with the Federal Government and I will be sharing with you the efforts of the present administration to harness our mineral endowments for the economic development of Nigeria.
“As the Honourable Minister of State for the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, it will be my great pleasure to share with you, our investment brochures and introduce the key agencies of the ministry in Kaduna State like Nigerian Geological Survey Agency & National Steel Raw Materials Exploration for generation of geoscience data on minerals of interest and Mining Cadastre Office for title acquisition and administration. As we consider the 2021 Kadinvest 6.0 theme ‘Towards a sustainable knowledge-based Economy, I am confident that reliable information from these agencies on the minerals and metal sector will guide prospective investors in making knowledge-based decisions.
“Commercial exploitation of solid minerals in Nigeria dates back to 1903 with commodities like Tin, Columbite from Jos, Plateau State and Coal from Enugu. The economic contribution of the mining sector was over 5% before the discovery of oil which transformed the country into a mono product economy. In the past, major infrastructure in the country like Tincan Seaport in Lagos, Portharcourt Seaport in Rivers, Eastern Railway line, Western Railway line and the Standard gauge Central Rail line, Power plants etc. were developed to service the mineral sector.”
