Re: Buhari’s forgotten Ministers

The third quarter GDP figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), a few weeks ago revealed two major facts about the economy: One, that the economy is still in recession. Two, that there is a consistent growth in Agriculture and Solid Minerals sectors, indicating the success of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s economic policies.

In shedding light on the NBS report, Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Dr Adeyemi Dipeolu, said in spite of the recession, the encouraging signs of improvement from some key sectors, including the solid minerals, remained a source of optimism.

Dr Dipeolu, in a statement on behalf of the Economic Management Team, said “The growth in the non-oil economy although still weak at 0.03% showed a return to positive territory after two consecutive quarters of negative growth. This was partly due to the continued good performance of agriculture and the solid minerals. Agriculture grew by 4.54% in the quarter under consideration, while growth in the solid mineral sector averaged about 7%.”

A few weeks before the official release of the figures by NBS, the Senate committee on Solid Minerals had lauded the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, and his team for what they described as an unprecedented increase in the revenue from the sector.

Chairman of the committee, Senator James Manager (PDP, Delta South), who gave the commendation when he led members on an oversight function to the ministry, stated that revenue of the ministry grew from N700million to over N2 billion within the space of one year, describing the achievement as remarkable giving the inherent challenges in the sector.

Blocking leakages remains one of the major tools deployed by the current leadership of the Ministry, and this has started reflecting in the revenue from the ministry. In ensuring that losses are minimised and security of mines better enhanced, the ministry came up with a comprehensive package, to equip the mines officers with surveillance vehicles and gadgets. This got the approval of the Federal Executive Council on November 9th. And by tomorrow, December 19th, all Federal Mines Officers in the 36 states of the federation and the zonal offices would pick up their vehicles and other gadgets needed to be more effective on their job.

It is believed that with a crop of better equipped and highly motivated Mines Officers spread across the country, compliance with laid down rules and mines best practices would be better achieved.

It is on the basis of testimonials and positive developments like these, as well as other verifiable evidences of sterling performance in the mining sector that one can reasonably conclude that the ministry is taking carefully calculated steps in terms of policy and regulatory framework in achieving the mandate of contributing to economic diversification and job creation.

It is also part of the reasons to posit that a section of the report in the Sunday, December 11, 2016 edition of the Daily Trust Newspaper, titled “Buhari’s Forgotten Ministers” is not only misleading, but lacking in facts and substance.

In particular reference is the aspect on the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, who the report attempted to describe as a non-performer, without any justifiable argument or logical conclusion. It must be stated that the report was devoid of any thorough investigation into activities in the mining sector, hence, the hasty conclusion.

It would not have been necessary to raise an objection to the misleading report, but for the sake of well meaning Nigerians who could be misled by the report and investors in the Nigerian mining sector, who, have in recent time, developed a new level of confidence in the Nigerian mining sector.

To assess the Ministry and the Minister on the challenges being faced in fixing the issue of security of mines without taking due cognisance of the progress that have been recorded in collaboration with other sister ministries and relevant security agencies, is like playing the ostrich.

Aside strengthening the mines inspectorate and equipping the Mines Officers, the ministry, in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior and other relevant security agencies is tackling the issue head long. Through the collaborative efforts, arrangements have reached an advanced stage to deploy security personnel to man the mines.

It must be stated that the focus of the current leadership is to strengthen the regulatory framework and create an enabling environment for investors thereby making the Nigerian mining sector attractive. The attendant huge investment in the sector will eventually drive job creation, especially with government’s preference for investors with plan to set up processing plants.

The successful renegotiation of the NIOMCO concession, which ceded Ajaokuta Steel Complex to the government, is also seen as a strategic step on the part of the ministry as the complex, when fully functional, has the capacity to provide about 10,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Aside equipment leasing arrangements for local operators, the ministry is also making arrangement to organise informal or artisanal miners into cooperatives to contribute optimally to the economy.

When he assumed office on November 11th, 2015, Dr Fayemi, had left no one in doubt regarding his ability to actualise the President’s mandate.

The first major step taken was to apply the “use or lose” clause in the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2007, by publishing the list of dormant mining licences with a deadline for their revalidation. At the end of the exercise, many of the dormant licences were revoked while many others got revalidated after payment of appropriate fees that also shored up the revenue from the ministry.

The Minister also worked out a strategic partnership arrangement with the states, which encourages the state governments to take advantage of mineral deposits in their states without violating any of the existing laws. The interest generated by the state government has helped in no small measure to resolve the age-long acrimony regarding who owns what and where.

Dr Fayemi has never claimed that the journey to mining prosperity would be an easy ride. Rather, he is of the opinion that with the right mix of proper policy formulation, transparency, accountability, tact and determination, the Nigerian mining sector would attain global relevance and contribute its quota to the economic development of the country. He believes that mining has a long gestation period, hence he has put in place a structure that would bring the country back to its once glorious past in mining.

The Minister has spelt out the ministry’s planned growth trajectory in three phases. According to him, “Phase one, in the immediate term, we are achieving import substitution by winning over domestic users of industrial minerals. “Phase two, our focus is on further expanding our domestic ore and mineral assets processing capacity. Phase three, we will return stronger to the global ore and minerals markets at a market competitive price point.”

Ultimately, the goal is to return the sector to its glorious days and reposition it to contribute between 5% - 7% over the next 10 - 15 years.

No doubt, the journey has begun. The expected government support is also being demonstrated in many ways, including the recent approval by the President for the release of N30billion from the solid minerals component of the National Resource Fund. The N30 billion intervention fund, according to Fayemi, would be channelled into exploration.

It is certain that a minister under whose watch major steps that are contributing significantly to the economy ought not be categorised as “forgotten’. We trust that Daily Trust will help do justice to this, so that it continues to justify the trust we repose in the newspaper.