Solid minerals sector generates 1.25m jobs, says minister

MINISTRY of Mines and Steel Development (MMSD) has facilitated the creation of 1,254,000 jobs through exploration, exploitation and export of solid mineral activities in the country.

Speaking at the ministerial press briefing Tuesday in Abuja, the Minister, Musa Sada, said the employment opportunities were mostly rural based jobs and also for professionals.

The minister identified short, medium and long-term programmes to boost development of a roadmap for the growth of the solid minerals and metal sectors.

According to him, the job opportunities were made possible through “the operations in 1,710 quarries, 223 small scale mining operations, 195 mining leases, 845 Artisanal and Small Scale Mining (ASM) cooperatives and 2048 exploration licences.”

Sada listed developments in the steel sector to include production of 54, 410,000 million metric tonnes by various steel plants in Nigeria and expansion of total steel rolling mill in Kaduna to 100,000 tpa.

He noted that the roadmap development strategy to improve the sector was based on the “policy thrust including value addition, import substitution, substantial job creation, promotion of modern mining practices, natural resources conservation and visibility of private sector.”

The minister described the short-term programmes as activities that will strengthen sector reforms for mining investment capital such as generating credible geosciences data and formalisation of all ASM operators.

He said actions that will further increase mineral production through effective exploitation of mineral resources found in almost all the local government areas nationwide will be termed the medium-term programmes.

“Enthroning large scale mining operations such as delineating world class mineralised blocks for concessioning to investors will be the long-term agenda,” Sada added.