Miners want criteria for disbursement of N30bn fund

The Miners Association of Nigeria (MAN) has called on the federal government to explicitly state how it will disburse the N30 billion Mining Intervention Fund released in 2016 for exploration.

MAN’s National Secretary, Mr. Dele Ayanleke, told newsmen, in Abuja, that the government would release the criteria and that miners would be involved in the fund’s disbursement.

Ayanleke recalled that some years ago, the World Bank released funds for the mining sector, but they were used purposes.

He said 2016 was a year full of challenges for miners, where some were attacked and killed during mining. He lamented that activities of illegal miners also hampered mining.

According to him, the Mine’s inspectorate department in the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development was willing to work, but lacked empowerment to conduct its oversight functions and to monitor mining sites to know what challenges miners were facing on fields.

He called on government to provide infrastructure such for other as access roads and electricity to all mining sites to lessen the burden on miners.

“Apart from the aforementioned, we need world class mining equipment if government wants to diversify the economy through the mining sector. No miner can afford to buy one equipment worth N600 million,” he said.

The federal government had last year approved the release N30 billion intervention funds for solid minerals development, saying it would be used for geo-sciences data generation, improve mines-field security and monitoring.