The minister who made this known while speaking on Tuesday at a town hall meeting organised by the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture however said there was the need to formalise the sector, register and organise informal miners into cooperative societies for easy financing.
He said the key challenge is organising the sector in a way that the people will get social benefits, adding that the ministry is ready to organise them to be useful to the country.
“We are endowed with resources; the challenges are often persecution and trust. We can be a mining destination with determination, commitment and resilience. The key challenge is organising the sector in a way that the people will get social benefits. Over 5 million Nigerians are involved in mining informally. They don’t have licenses, but we can organise them to be useful to themselves and to the country,” he said.
The minister regretted that Nigeria spends far less than other neighbouring countries on exploration. According to him, Burkina Faso spends $50 million on exploration annually, while Nigeria spends $300, 000 annually.
While admitting that mining is capital intensive, Fayemi said the ministry is currently working with the Bank of Industry and other commercial banks to provide intervention funds to develop those involved in the business.
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