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The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development contributed N7.8 billion to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last year, its Director of Artisanal and Small Scale Mining (ASM), Patrick Ojeka, has said.
Ojeka said the cash was realised through its agencies and departments, adding that the Mining Cadastra Office (MCO), an agency of the ministry, contributed substantially to the amount.
Ojeka said MCO is saddled with managing and administering mineral titles, stating that the ministry’s contribution to the GDP last year was unprecedented compared to its past contributions.
“The ministry in its effort to put the sector in its rightful place came up with a Road Map, inaugurated by the former minister and Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi.
“The road map made the sector attractive to investors and has placed the sector on the path of growth and development.
“Fayemi also accessed N30 billion for the ministry. It was a great achievement; the fund helped to upscale the performance of the sector to a higher level,” he said.
The director said the ministers in the ministry had also done well since they assumed duty, adding that the ministry had never contributed up to the amount to the GDP in the past.
According to him, the ministry will soon begin to capture the biometrics of more 2000 artisanal miners that registered in cooperatives across the country. He said the essence of the biometrics capturing was to know their locations and monitor their operations.
“The biometrics will help to locate and apprehend artisanal miner that commit offence; it will help in locating where they are conducting mining operations.
“The ministry has formalised the operations of over 2000 artisanal miners that registered into different cooperatives. We want to go beyond formalisation; we want to have their biometrics.
“We have procured biometric equipment that will soon be deployed to the field for the exercise and we will issue them Identity Cards.
“We noticed that some artisanal miners have been formalised several times due to their movement from one field to another, but the biometrics will henforth prevent double formalisation.
“The Federal Government do not call artisanal miners ‘illegal miners;’ they are miners that are scratching the surface of the land to earn their living. We call them artisanal miners.
“As far as they have been formalised into cooperatives, they can access small scale mining licences from the MCO to conduct full mining operation,” he said.
Ojeka said an agreement had been reached with artisanal miners on tenement (land) that belong to mining investors to sell minerals mined on the tenement to the investors.
