Samuel Bello, Abuja
The Federal Government said it has, so far, registered 700 artisanal and small scale miners into licensed cooperatives.
Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Abubakar Bwari, who disclosed this during a press conference in Abuja, yesterday, noted that N5 billion is with the Bank of Industry (BOI); in support of artisanal and small scale miners in the country.
He explained that a certified artisanal scale miner, can access between N100million and N10 million; while small scale miners could access between N10 million and N100 million with a low interest of five percent.
According to Bwari, the increasing rate of informal miners disregarding safer mining methods had weakened the interest of many Nigerian investors looking into mining.
The minister stressed the need to register all informal miners, as it would enhance their growth and development in a structured manner, and spur productivity and job creation in the mining sector.
“Our goal is to ensure we register all the informal miners, so that we can easily monitor their activities and also collect their royalties for their contribution to the federal government’s revenue.
“We have the potential in this sector in such a way that we can create jobs for our people because all the 774 local governments has mineral products that can be extracted.
All we need to do is to identify those materials and engage those miners and I believe mining can take Nigeria where it’s supposed to be in the committee of nations and we need to do that responsibly,” Bwari said.