SOLID MINERALS VIABLE ALTERNATIVE TO OIL - NEITI

By NBF News

Executive Secretary Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Hajia Zainab Ahmed, has said that with the anticipated drop in oil resources, the nation is left with solid minerals as the most viable alternative sector.

Speaking at an Interactive dinner with the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Architect Musa Mohammed Sada, operators in the sector at a fundraising event of the Miners Association of Nigeria (MAN) which held in Abuja on Wednesday, she called on NEITI members to be more supportive of its initiative so as to ensure transparency in various sectors of the economy.

Commending the support of the Solid minerals team, she said 'NEITI had been working closely with the Ministry and MAN and was prepared to use the soon to be released NEITI report to further attract foreign investors to the sector'.

The Minister in his address assured that 'the association had played a major role in the development of minerals and many policies of the sector could not have been achieved without the support of the Association'.

Sada, in his remarks, asserted that minerals and metals were essential to life which led the government to consider the sector crucial in its transformation agenda and added 'with the development of the sector, coal has become available as fuel'

President of MAN, Alhaji SaniĀ  Shehu, in his address said that a combination of factors ranging from the collapse of the tin council and the exit of expatriate mining companies greatly affected the fortunes and operations of the once vibrant association, so much that it was nearly extinct.

He, however, expressed optimism that with the collective efforts of the Minister, Chairman Senate Committee and other members, the association had again metamorphosed into a National Industrial association with diverse membership across the broad spectrum of the economy.