12th July, 2018
The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, says it will soon conclude its gold policy to give backing to gold processing and refinery in the country.
Dr Abdulkadir Muazu, the Permanent Secretary, disclosed this while inaugurating the Ministry’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) delivery unit on Thursday in Abuja.
Muazu said with the policy in place, companies would be able to set up gold processing centres in Nigeria, while adding value to the economy.
To this end, he said that Licence had been given to Kian Smith Trading Company, a private company to establish a gold processing centre in Nigeria.
According to him, granting the licence is sequel to Federal Government’s directive for the company to commence gold purchasing and processing in Nigeria.
He said that the company would soon commence operation, adding that it would be buying raw gold from artisanal and small scale miners and process them locally.
Muazu said that the ministry had also inaugurated six core members, comprising directors in line with one of the mandates assigned to the ministry under the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).
According to him, the Federal Government assigned two major areas, Solid Mineral Development Fund (SMDF), and Gold Purchase Programme under the ERGP.
“Gold purchase programme and SMDF were areas assigned to our ministry and we have commenced actions on these two areas to meet the ERGP programme timeframe,’’ he said.
On SMDF, he said that the ministry established it as a parastatal in 2017, to serve as economic programme interface on behalf of the ministry and investors in order to grow the sector.
Muazu said that the SMDF was meant to assist operators to access funding and to facilitate the ministry’s activities.
According to him, a committee headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has set up a ministerial delivery unit to give updates to implementation unit under the presidency on progress made on areas assigned to each MDA concerned.
He said in line with this new development, the six core members would be given progress report on the two programmes under the ERGP on a weekly basis to the implementation unit.
The Federal Government released the ERGP in 2017.
The ERGP, a medium term plan for 2017 to 2020, is meant to build on the Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP), developed for the 2016 budget.
The objectives of the ERGP are to restore economic growth, build a globally competitive economy and invest in Nigerians by driving social inclusion, job creation, youth empowerment and improved human capital.