The Miners Association of Nigeria has called for streamlining all legal and regulatory frameworks that will accelerate the growth of the mineral sector.

The association’s president, Dele Ayanleke, said this at the eighth edition of the Nigeria Mining Week.

According to him, the solid minerals sector is generating a heated interest, especially from the lower tiers of government, with some constitutional and legal challenges.

“But we believe that the articulate management of those challenges will provide a workable template for the streamlining of all legal and regulatory frameworks that will accelerate the growth of the sector. This is in line with the seven-point agenda recently unfolded by the Minister of Solid Minerals Development,’’ he said.

While emphasising that Nigeria is richly endowed with the minerals needed for the global energy transition, Mr Ayanleke said MAN envisaged a pragmatic conversation crucial for the global agenda.

“It is important to mention the coincidence of the global energy transition that is widely gaining momentum and the fact that Nigeria is richly endowed with the minerals that are highly needed for this global agenda,” Mr Ayanleke explained. “In view of the foregoing, therefore, MAN, together with our partners, envisage robust conversations that will birth pragmatic actions toward the accelerated growth of the sector.”

He added, “To provide a veritable pivot for the diversification and broadening of the national economic space. These conversations must also come with proactive recommendations to address all challenges militating against the growth of the sector: resource control and state interventions, insecurity and inadequate human and logistic capacities of the regulatory bodies.”

Others are illegality and banditry in all ramifications, uncontrolled involvement of foreign nationals, inadequate value addition and raw exportation of our mineral resources and such like.

Mr Ayanleke said the association registered the intention of President Bola Tinubu to re-launch the nation back on track to be among the comity of industrialised nations of the world.

“This is as indicated by the separation of the iron and steel component and creating a different ministry to accelerate the processes of revolutionising the steel sector,’’ he said. 

(NAN)