The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, says the ministry is determined to ensure the sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) surpasses that of oil.

In an interview on Sunday, he said President Bola Tinubu’s administration was putting policies and initiatives in place to diversify the economy and ensure that it generates more revenue than oil in the near future.

“Our objective is to make solid minerals’ contribution to the GDP surpass oil,” said Mr Alake, who decried the country’s long dependence on oil and neglect of other critical sectors.

Mr Alake said the move was necessary, especially given the global upsurge in energy transition, which would reduce the demand for oil.

“By the time all our policy initiatives go through the gestation period and begin to manifest results, the revenue accruing to Nigeria from this sector would be enormous.

“We are going to recover trillions to the coffers of the Nigerian government and for the benefit of Nigerians at large,” he said.

He said Nigeria possesses the critical minerals in commercial quantities across its states needed for energy transition, which the ministry was aggressively marketing to attract big players to invest in the sector.

According to him, negotiations with an auditing firm are ongoing to audit the sector, aimed at sanitising it and ensuring the appropriate accruals to boost the country’s GDP.

“ We know that operators will under-declare what they are carting away, even the payment of royalties, which they underpay, and taxes they evade.

“So we are in the process of engaging an internationally recognised auditing firm that has done the same thing in other parts of the world in more than 20 countries.

“We are going to recover trillions to the coffers of the Nigerian government and for the benefit of Nigerians at large,“ he said.

The minister said a German company, Geo Scan, conducted a preliminary survey indicating that Nigeria has $750 billion worth of underground solid minerals that have yet to be harnessed.

(NAN)