By Fatima Saka
The Nigeria Senate has vowed to block all leakages in the solid minerals sector, adding that Nigeria has lost so much to illegal mining.
Senator Ekong Sampson, made this assertion during interactive sessions with journalists, immediately after having meetings with the Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF) at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja.
The Senator representing Akwa Ibom South Senatorial District in the 10th National Assembly stressed we cannot encourage the leakages that the senate have seen the lages in the sector, give an instance of what happened in Ibadan last month of some explosives that were wrongly stored, went over and created a lot of casualties. “We cannot encourage these gaps to continue. We recall what happened in Ibadan.”
“We’ve lost so much, and we need to strengthen the Naira. How do we strengthen this Naira?
“If we don’t explore beyond oil, look at mining, look at our potential, look at our endowments.
“So it’s a work in progress. We are going to see results.”
In supporting the sector, Senator Sampson said that the committee is committed to work closely with key players to drive what needed to drive for the sector.
“I’ve been very clear that God in his benevolence has been very merciful with Nigeria.
“We are so richly endowed. We have so much for our people and for Africa.
“So what we did was to look at the gaps and see how those gaps can be addressed in terms of the legal framework, in terms of policy, in terms of implementation, and it will be a work in progress.
“Nigeria has no excuses for not doing well in the mining sector.
“God has been very merciful. So through this partnership, we are going to explore areas of collaboration. That is very key.
“Working closely with key players, we are going to get there. So it was a very rich session. We looked at areas. We looked at how to strengthen the sector, principally.
The Senate is very much interested in the solid minerals sector because we believe that we must look beyond oil. We must diversify. So it was a great meeting. It led to a strong foundation for growth.
