Minister of Mines and Steel Development Mohammed Sada disclosed this after the Council meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan at the State House, Abuja.
Sada said that the road-map contained clear cut guidelines and regulations on the best way to move the mining sector forward.
The minister said that the sector would be largely private sector-driven and there would be specific incentives to encourage investors.
“The issue of specific incentives is right there in the law. If you are starting mining project, any mining equipment that you are bringing into the country is duty free.
“If you start informal mining project and you are employing people, you have a tax holiday between three to five years depending on the assessment that you get.
“You have automatic expatriate quota base on the assessment that we do for you and many others, it is right there in the law, it is quite a long list of them to encourage investors.
“Like I said, we are currently working on a fiscal policy for the sector. The fiscal policy will dovetail into the mainframe of national economic policy of the country so that the sector will be carried along in all phase of consideration.’’
He said issues of host community development, job creation, job protection, and fiscal framework for the sector were also contained in the road-map.
Sada recalled that the sector used to contribute significantly to the national economy until the late 70s when there was a significant drop.
He identified lack of regulations, clear cut policies and road-map as well as the shift into the monolithic oil economy as factors responsible for the drop.
The minister noted that the whole idea of the road-map was to re-awaken the sector to be a viable alternative income and employment generation.
According to him, the reform process in the sector started in 2005, culminating into the regulatory laws of 2007 and then the approved road-map.
He noted that the reform had started yielding fruits with some Nigerian mining companies getting quoted in the local and foreign stock exchange.
Sada said an indigenous mining company working in Kogi State had about 488 million metric tonnes reserves of iron ore.
He also gave example of Segilola gold mining projects in Osun State, quoted in the stock exchange, which he said, was a collaboration between a Nigerian firm and an Australian company.
To address the menace of illegal mining, the minister said the policy entailed bringing together the miners to harness their potentials for job creation and poverty reduction.
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