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Tag: Nigeria’s mining sector

  • Minister commends COMEG for upholding professionalism, ethics in Nigeria’s mining sector

    Minister commends COMEG for upholding professionalism, ethics in Nigeria’s mining sector

    The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, has lauded the Council of Mining Engineers and Geoscientists (COMEG) for maintaining high standards of professionalism, ethics, and global best practices in Nigeria’s mining industry.

    Dr. Alake made the commendation on Thursday during the 15th induction and oath-taking ceremony for the 2025 COMEG inductees, where 236 new mining and geoscience professionals and 23 corporate bodies were formally sworn in as members of the council.

    Describing COMEG as a strategic partner in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda to diversify the economy through solid minerals, the Minister highlighted the council’s role in digital transformation, professional development, ethical enforcement, and the formalisation of artisanal and small-scale mining.

    Represented by his Permanent Secretary, Engr. Farouk Yabo, Dr. Alake urged the inductees to uphold professional integrity, embrace technology, and promote safety and environmental standards. 

    He also assured COMEG of continued federal government support through policy, funding, and legislation, urging stakeholders to harness Nigeria’s mineral resources to help achieve the administration’s $1 trillion economy target.

    Earlier, COMEG Registrar, Professor Zacheus Opafunso, commended Dr. Alake for providing the direction and institutional backing that enabled the successful delivery of the 2025 K-Entrepreneurship Training Programme in Nigeria’s solid minerals sector. 

    He noted that the Minister’s intervention ensured operational stability and policy continuity, particularly after the agency was removed from the federal budget in January 2024.

    Opafunso emphasised that Dr. Alake’s leadership was pivotal in securing national-level approval for the KME framework, strengthening engagement with the Office of the Head of Service and the Council on Establishment. 

    He revealed that 27 out of 30 committee members voted in favour of the KME integration proposal, a key milestone for advancing professional regulation, sector reforms, and capacity building within the mining industry.

    The Registrar also highlighted strategic partnerships and negotiations that reduced implementation costs from ₦72 million to ₦20 million, allowing the entrepreneurship programme to proceed despite limited funding. 

    He noted that the redesigned training—combining induction, technical learning, certification, and practical field sessions—aligns with the federal agenda to expand technical skills, create jobs, and drive economic diversification across the mining value chain.

    In his remarks, Director General of the Nigeria Geoscience Agency Survey (NGAS), Professor Olusegun Ige, charged the new members to uphold ethics, professionalism, and national service, emphasizing that mining engineers and geoscientists are central to Nigeria’s solid minerals development and economic growth.

  • ‘Foreigners control Nigeria’s mining sector’

    Operators in the Non-Metallic Mineral Producers Sub-Sector of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) have raised alarm that foreigners have taking over the mining activities in the sector.

    The National Chairman of the sector, Mr. Mallison Ukatu, raised the alarm over the weekend during a courtesy call by the Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria in Lagos over the weekend.

    Ukatu frowned that the sector has been invaded due to lack of policy to protect the sector, adding that the future of the sector is at the mercy of these foreign nationals that access cheap funds from their countries of origin.

    “Foreigners are partially taking over our manning sector; they have almost taking over our mining and supply activities. They have taking over the supply chain and logistics because of the cheap funds they get from their countries and also the encouraging policies they have. What I wish to see is when made in Nigeria goods are being manufactured by Nigerians and not made in Nigeria goods manufactured by the Chinese,” Ukatu stressed.

    He said; “As the new National Chairman of Non-Metallic Mineral Producers Sub-Sector of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, I am calling on the Federal Government to put in place the proper policy that will drive the sector. There are lots of illegal miners in the sector thereby causing hazards to the nation as a whole, as well as affecting our activities in the sector.

    “We need policies that will make the sector competitive enough so that we would also have what to bring to the table especially now that the country has signed the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), otherwise Nigeria will lose out. Again, there have been a long battle between tax authorities and manufacturers in the country over multiple taxation of our businesses and if the issue of multiple taxation is not urgently addressed by government, more manufacturing companies are likely to exit the economy.”