S’Minerals fail 2017 revenue target, contributes paltry N3.5bn to Federation Account
Upon over N150bn federal budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Solid Minerals to drive sector capacity growth, the sector only managed to inject N3.5bn to the Federation Account between January and November 2017.
Making the revelation in Abuja, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, said 2018 will be better as several investments made last year will begin to mature this year.
He said “Our exertions were centred on advancing the reforms begun in 2016 in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s mandate to us to reposition the mining sector as a frontier of this administration’s economic diversification agenda.
“Aligned with the ‘Road map for the Growth and Development of the Nigerian Mining Industry’ approved in August 2016, our aspiration remains to build a world class minerals and mining ecosystem designed to serve a targeted domestic and export market for our minerals and ores. Our focus remains to improve the sector’s contribution to the GDP and to create jobs and economic opportunities for Nigerians.
“Accordingly, 2017 saw the commencement of the full implementation of the road map. It is important to note that our work in the mining sector is very much in sync with the policies and programmes of this administration’s Economic Management Team.
“The sector features very prominently in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, which is the medium-term plan for 2017 – 2020, and is the primary planning framework for the economy.”
Fayemi further averred that “Consolidating on our feat of achieving a 300 per cent increase in revenue (royalties and fees) between 2015 and 2016, we steadily progressed in 2017; and as of November 2017, the sector had already surpassed the entire revenue of about N2bn generated for the whole of 2016, with over N3.5bn contributed to the Federation Account.
“While we still have a long way to go, with the gains we have collectively achieved in 2017, we can confidently say that we are well on the road to shared mining prosperity.”
However, the mining sector was one of the key beneficiaries of the macro-economic reforms driven by the Economic Management Team, the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council and the Inter-Ministerial Council, and the Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP).
