Ekiti guber poll: Mines minister Fayemi resigns

Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, formally resigned from the federal cabinet yesterday.

The ex-minister expressed appreciation President Muhammadu Buhari’s leadership prioritization of the mining sector.

Dr Fayemi’s resignation, which was approved by the President, was to enable him contest the July 14, Ekiti State Governorship election for which he is the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The Minister announced his resignation at office to staff of the ministry and media.

He also used the occasion to give account of his stewardship in the ministry, which he headed for two and a half years, admitting that the sector has indeed met its set goals of increasing its contribution to the national GDP.

The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics recently affirmed that the revenue from the mining sector has increased more than five folds from the inception of the present administration.

According to Fayemi, the support of the President greatly assisted in repositioning the mining sector for better performance, leading to remarkable growth recorded in the sector in the past two and a half years.

Fayemi cited improved funding for the sector, better geological data, improvement in the ease of doing business, security of the mines as well as removal of legal encumbrances that had crippled some national assets as some areas the ministry, under his leadership, recorded huge success.

Other achievements include stronger institutional capacity, enhanced capacity of staffs, improved infrastructure, better cooperative federalism, improvement in productivity, profitable collaboration with international development agencies.

He said he was confident that the Minister of State, Hon Abubakar Bawa Bwari, who will now take charge of the Ministry, would forge ahead with the various reforms and innovations that have helped to reposition the sector.

The handover will take place today at the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development. on and his