The Managing Director, Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), Abba Bello, has assured stakeholders in the mineral sector of the economy of his readiness for partnerships that would facilitate solid mineral exportation.
Bello stated this on Friday when he paid a courtesy visit to the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi at his office in Abuja.
According a statement signed by Chinedu Moghalu, spokesperson of the NEXIM, and made available to the Economic Times, Bello disclosed that “solid minerals, along with the other three sectors of manufacturing, agriculture, and services, is an essential pillar upon which our activities within the nonoil sectors rest, and deserves NEXIM Bank’s full support.”
Responding, the Minister said that the Board of the Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF) constituted on May 25 seeks to address the fundamental sectoral challenge of Insufficient Funding – a problem that has historically undermined the growth potentials of the sector, is an important milestone in Government’s efforts to reposition the Nigerian Mining industry.
Currently, according to the Minister, the Solid Minerals Roadmap, to which the SMDF would provide support, had prioritized the development of seven strategic minerals (7SM), namely coal, bitumen, limestone, iron Ore, barytes, gold and lead/zinc. Albeit, he stated that the list does not preclude investments in some other viable solid minerals if and when the funding is available, especially considering that the Roadmap clearly targets to integrate artisanal miners into the formal sector.
Dr. Kayode stated that a close collaboration between the Ministry and the NEXIM will be strategic to growing the sector, particularly in achieving the goals set under the Solid Minerals Roadmap. In this regard, the Ministry would want to work with the Bank in monitoring to ensure that the beneficiaries of its funding interventions within the sector use the loans judiciously. He indicated that the Ministry will also be relying on the expert technical advisory support of NEXIM from time to time.
Concluding, the Minister Kayode mentioned that the Government is quite keen in mineral beneficiation as a way to bring value addition to the sector and also boost local content and import substitution.
Mr. Abba expressed immense appreciation to the Minister for his uncommon commitment to growing the solid minerals sector, and pledged that NEXIM Bank, in line with mandate, will continue to be a dependable partner with the Ministry in the commitment to fixing the Nigerian Mining industry as an enabler to economic diversification and job reaction.
