Nigeria launches roadmap on mining

The National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has said Nigeria has entrench a mining roadmap focusing iron ore, gold, bitumen, coal, limestone, lead and zinc, gold and barite.
It said that the roadmap was conceived to raise the contributions of mining to gross domestic product from 0.3 per cent to about four per cent or 27 billion dollars by 2025.
The National President of NACCIMA, Chief Alaba Lawson, said in New York on Wednesday at the NACCIMA-Diaspora engagement with Nigerian professionals, organisations, and investors based in the U.S.
She told the group that a lot of things had changed in Nigeria and has made investment in the country more attractive and urged them to return home to invest.
Lawson said agriculture was now taking its leading role in Nigeria adding, the country needs to feed itself instead of using its hard-earned foreign exchange to import foods that it can produce in our country.
On mining, the NACCIMA leader said: “There is no Local Government in Nigeria that has not got its mineral deposit; we are so blessed.
“So we are looking at mining as a very important sector that will replace the oil sector in our country, with good policies from the government”.
Lawson said the Nigerian mining sector was being repositioned adding, we are looking at the policies from the government so as to make it a sector one can invest and know that the investment is safe.
According to her, this is an area the Nigerian Diaspora can look into and invest.
Being the voice of the Nigerian business, she said NACCIMA was an advocate of conducive and enabling environment for private sector to be able to successfully operate, thrive and serve as the engine of economic growth and development in our country.
This position has given NACCIMA a unique opportunity to truly be the voice of business and defender of the interest of the private sector, she said.
Lawson, who is the first female president of NACCIMA, said the private sector was now widely acknowledged as the driver of inclusive growth in all major areas of the economy.
“One cannot underestimate the volume of money being moved by the Nigerians in the diaspora. It is well known that our diaspora is composed of high-end and skilled professionals.
“And is in addition, diaspora remittances have hit about $30 billion and this is the real data that we have – that in a year, the $30 billion is the formal one that you can track.
“The informal ones that people give hand-to-hand to send to relatives are not included. So you can see that this is a veritable injection of funds into our economy.;;
Some of the Nigerian diasporas and their investment partners raised issues about getting honest partners in Nigeria, which Lawson said the chamber has a Diaspora desk to deal with that.
NACCIMA Director-General, Amb. Ayoola Olukanni, said NACCIMA has database of genuine businesses that foreign investors could partner with and their investments would be secured.
Olukanni said: “So we are calling on you to join us at NACCIMA to make some contributions in our quest to turn Nigeria into a country of our dream.
“Whether we like it or not and wherever we are, home is the best and home is home. This is our clarion call that we should all join hands to promote our nation and build it into our dream”.