By Michael Agbaji
Zong Hong Kotai group of companies from China said they have committed over $500million to invest in mining sector in three states in Nigeria ,comprising Zamfara, Kebbi and Nasarawa.
The leader of the delegation of the company delegation to Nigeria Mr Chen Twan stated this during the visit to Senate committee on Soil minerals at the National Assembly in Abuja.
According to Mr Chen Twan $500million is test the market and see how good,it we will attract more investors to Nigeria to invest in minerals deposits.”
According to him,”as an international group, our company specializes in mining and bitumen. In the past few years, we have invested extensively globally and on that strength, we have come to Nigeria to survey the possibility of investing in the mining and industrial park sectors in your country for the coming year.
“We also have another investment in Nigeria and we will make that known in the course of our stay in country.”
Also Representative of Nigerian Investors and Managing Director Exterdam Exploration, Mr Adamuta said,Over the time, we have been engaging the company ,we have visited the factories in China.we saw their processes and we know what they can do and we trust them because we are Nigerian based company.
“They are not coming to Nigeria on their own, they are coming based on the investigation we have done the companies and they are licenses to operate and invest in our economy he said.
“So, they coming to build on those licenses and that is why when they came we had to introduce them to our fathers so that they will have full confidence of investing in Nigeria knowing that we are a true company doing the right thing and following the laws of the country.”
He said the support of the Senate will courage them to invest the huge amount of money in the nation’s solid minerals sector.
“With Senate’s support, they still want to invest more money in other states in Nigeria and if that is done it be good for our country, he said, the company intend to invest another one billion dollars into the solid minerals when this first phase of the investment scales through,” he assured. $500million is initial amount used to test investment in Nigeria three states of Nigeria; comprising Zamfara, Kebbi and Nasarawa before more money will be committed to other state.
He said,if do well within the first one year of their exploration in the three selected states, the project would extend to other states that have solid minerals potentials.
Mr Chen Twan says, committing $500 million to test the ground show how serious is the company to invest in Nigeria should mineral deposits.
According to him,”as an international group, our company specializes in mining and bitumen. In the past few years, we have invested extensively globally and on that strength, we have come to Nigeria to survey the possibility of investing in the mining and industrial park sectors in your country for the coming year.
“We also have another investment in Nigeria and we will make that known in the course of our stay in country.”
Also speaking, Representative of Nigerian Investors and Managing Director Exterdam Exploration, Mr Adamuta said,Over the time, we have been engaging the company for the past two years.
According to him,We have gone to their factories in China. I have personally visited their factories for the past one year, I saw their processes and we know what they do and we trust them and we are Nigerian based company.
He said,they are not coming to Nigeria on their own, they are coming based on the investigation we have done on their companies capacity and what they can do and what our people stand to benefit he said.
“So, coming to senate today is introduce them to our legislature so that they will have full confidence and have legislative backing to enable them investing in Nigeria economy .
He said the support of the Senate has given them the courage to invest the huge amount of money in the nation’s solid minerals sector.
“With Senate’s support, they still want to invest more money into this venture and if that is good, they intend to invest another one billion dollars into the solid minerals when this first phase of the investment scales through,” he assured
Responding,Senate committee on Solid Minerals has promised to provide enabling legislative environment to protect companies in their investments in solid minerals exploration in the country.
Senator Onawo Mohammed Ogoshi who stand in for senator Samson Ekong as Acting Chairman assured the delegation that the Nigerian Senate will provide enabling legislations to protect their investments in any part of the country.
According to him,Nigerian Senate i will give you all the necessary encouragement to come and bring this huge amount of money to our economy.
“Our laws on solid minerals exploration are very robust. We intend to make it more robust by amending some of the laws that are obsolete, outdated and enact laws that will give your companies better protection in doing good business in Nigeria, he said.
He appealed to the delegation to bring in more investors into Nigeria to do business.
Also speaking, a member of the committee,Senator Mohammed Alero said,” I join the chairman to commend you for coming to invest in our country.
” You have come at the right time when the country is venturing into diversifying her economy. We had a mono- economy before now, where we depend heavily on oil for our foreign exchange earnings but the federal government has realized that we had no better choice than to look for other sectors of economy to earn revenue to finance our budget and solid minerals is one area where we have a lot of potentials.
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“We will do all we can to facilitate your involvement in this sector. We will liaise with the Ministry of solid minerals at the National level to secure our licenses and to give you permission.
“We will also talk to the governors and the traditional Institutions to ensure that you have free access to the areas where you are going to do your business and ones that is done, I don’t think you will have any problem,” he said.
