Bwari made the disclosure Tuesday in Abuja at the Mindiver Stakeholders Workshop on Roadmap for the Development of Nigeria’s Industrial Minerals.
Samuel Bello
Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development Abubakar Bwari says that about $44.5 million (N16 billion) is being spent annually by the federal government on importing industrial minerals.
Bwari made the disclosure Tuesday in Abuja at the Mindiver Stakeholders Workshop on Roadmap for the Development of Nigeria’s Industrial Minerals.
According to Bwari, a gap of 626,921 tonnes per annum exists in the local production of industrial minerals required by domestic industries.
The minister added that world class deposits of industrial minerals exists in the country, which could be developed and exploited to fill existing gaps and exported to conserve and increase foreign exchange earnings for the country.
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“The developed roadmap presented today seeks to facilitate competitive local production of industrial minerals commodity of required specifications by providing strategies for skilled labour development, improved access to finance, resolution of security issues, improvement in infrastructure, especially railway, and the use of low energy cost that would facilitate the production of competitive industrial mineral products; with the aim of attracting local users to look inwards for their sources of industrial minerals inputs,” the minister said.
