Dele Alake orders illegal miners 30 days to join artisanal corporatives

Dele Alake, the minister of solid minerals development, has ordered all illicit miners in the nation a 30-day deadline to join artisanal corporatives or face punishment.

The minister issued the demand on Sunday in Abuja at the presentation of the Agenda for Transformation of Solid Minerals for International Competitiveness and Domestic Prosperity.

He predicts that the Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, of the country will be boosted by solid minerals by 50%.
He asserted that the ministry will concentrate on a seven-point plan and was prepared to bring in foreign direct investment.

Mr. Alake continued by mentioning the establishment of the Nigerian Solid Minerals Corporation, joint ventures with multinational mining companies, and big data on the deposits of the seven priority minerals in question.

“Also, illicit miners had been allowed a 30-day grace period to join artisanal cooperatives.

The agenda calls for the establishment of a mine surveillance task force and a mine police force, as well as a thorough examination of all mining licences.

Six Mineral Processing Centres with an emphasis on value-added products will be created, he said.

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According to the minister, President Bola Tinubu made daring and hard decisions that changed the logic of the Nigerian economy.

Among the fundamentally transformative measures of this administration, according to him, were the elimination of subsidies and the introduction of a single exchange rate.

The ministry’s management is guided by this unconventional strategy for building long-term economic resilience.

The ministry must “take the bull by the horns” if the nation is to benefit from the trillion-dollar-worth of minerals that are buried beneath the ground nationwide.

By repositioning the sector in terms of human and capital variables that can drive its transformation, he said, “there has to be a paradigm shift in the strategy to achieve this laudable objective.”

The minister declared that mining was a lucrative industry and assured that the Nigerian Solid Mineral Corporation will be established.

He asserted that Nigeria must replicate its strategic position in the petroleum industry in order to make its presence felt.

“Creating a business entity that competes in this space can make this achievable.

In light of this, he stated, “the ministry shall work towards the incorporation of the Nigerian Solid Minerals Corporation.”

For Nigerian businessmen looking for capital abroad to validate their investment plans, Mr. Alake stated that the corporation will offer strong support.

In order to aid the nation in battling illegal mining and smuggling, he said that the ministry would establish a security tax force and mines police.