ABUJA – THE Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, Wednesday, urged operators in the mining sector to establish a miners bank to adequately fund operations and boost productivity.
Alake stated this in his remarks while declaring close the 9th Nigerian Mining Week.
He made it clear that when a miners bank is established by Government it would not serve the purpose rather it is better owned and managed by the sector’s operators.
He said: “As I was discussing with the CEOs yesterday, when they were talking about funding for this sector, my friend, Senator, said it, or suggested that I should impress it on the government to establish a bank for public minerals, very fantastic idea, so that our operators, especially the indigenous ones, the local operators, can have access to funding, and I retorted that that was a very good idea.
“However, why don’t we think outside the box? Why don’t we bend a little bit away from conventional perspective? Why can’t the CEOs, the operators, come together and establish their own bank, that will establish themselves? If you wait for government to establish a bank, automatically government will have control, and it will now be subject to political influence.
“Even this, that structure may not adhere beyond the government that established it because another government can come in and say that’s not a priority, and cancel it and that is just mild.
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“The pernicious factor, which I also pointed out, is the fact that we know ourselves in this country. When they know that it’s a government bank, everybody will go there to borrow money, rather than utilizing that money for the constructive purpose.
“There is a penchant for either marrying more wives, buying more cars, buying more houses, properties all over the world that contribute to the economy of those societies, and constitute the minus for us here.
“So, I said, if you, the CEOs, the operators, come together, what’s the capitalization of a bank? As requested by the CBN, two or three of the operators can come together and put the money down, and establish a bank for solid minerals, and then you own absolute control, and you can channel the funding, the loaning, for portfolio, strictly to the solid mineral sector, to your people, and that will be more enduring. It will outlast any government, and it will be free of political influence and control.”
Meanwhile, the Minister assured investors and operators in the sector of engaging with the State Governments on the issue of stopping mining companies with their laws, which impedes smooth operations in the mining sector.
“We have been engaging the sub-national authorities. Not necessarily states alone even local governments, which are also sub-nationals.
“I have had a meeting with all the governors, which was arranged for me by the Chairman of the Governors Forum for you, and we had a meeting here in my office in Abuja.
“And I addressed all of them, and all these issues were thrashed out in one of the ways because I can understand the fear of governors and state authorities because invariably these mining sites are in the states. So some feel that the operators are degrading the environment and they want some form of control over their environment.
“So the thing to do is to address their fears, which we did, and we told them that there are so many departments responsible for overseeing the operations of these operators with the view to making sure they comply with environmental standards and regulations.
“Apart from that, some of them believe that, well, they have many rights in their states, and they are not having access to it. So to circumvent that, or maneuver around, I said states can apply for mining licenses.
“And I have been signing a lot of mining licenses for states. So that would give them a sense of belonging, a sense of participation, and I am even glad that they are coming into it because they own the land, and when they are mining, they will not want to degrade their own environment. So they are likely to mine more responsibility, and they are applying. So the tension is coming down.