TRIBUNE
Decries under-utilisation of solid mineral potential
Written by:
Sam Nwaoko-Ado Ekiti
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has defended the N6.08 trillion 2016 budgetary proposal by President Muhammadu Buhari, saying it was not bogus.
Fayemi, who spoke in his native home, Isan-Ekiti in Oye Local Government Area of Ekiti State, on Sunday at a special thanksgiving Mass on his appointment as a minister, also lamented what he described as the neglect of the mineral potentials of the country, since independence.
He noted that the solid minerals sector of the country had the capacity to turn around the country’s economy, when its local consumption by industries and export benefits were considered.
He said: “The former governor of Lagos State, who superintends over the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing with about N433 billion budgetary provision, cannot say the amount is enough to turn around the facilities of this country if you look at what was involved.
“Lagos-Ibadan expressway alone will gulp a sum of N250 billion while the remaining amount may go with the second Niger Bridge, so no Minister can say the amount budgeted is more than enough.”
Speaking on the budget, the minister said the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing that received N433 billion share in the 2016 budget could still not boast that the amount would be enough to turn around the infrastructural facilities across the nation, saying no amount, that is budgeted to develop a vast country like Nigeria, was too much.
Fayemi said the 2016 budget was targeted at improving Nigerians' lives, promising that it will be pursued with passion to realise its focus.
He said: “The budget presented by President Buhari has a focus and the focus is to improve on the well being of all Nigerians and to improve on the infrastructural facilities across the nation. So, what we need now is to prove our mettle by being innovative and creative. We need to work very hard to actualise the focus of this budget and this will only be measured by the level of impact we are able to make on Nigerian masses.”
On the solid mineral potentials of the country, Fayemi said the Nigeria’s self-sufficiency in cement production was enough to attest to the fact that the country was richly blessed.
“Nigeria is well endowed. Our self-sufficiency in limestone for production of cement, marble, ceramic and many others in terms of local consumption and export rate, one would know that Nigeria is endowed.
“In Isan Ekiti here, we have clay and kaolin and that was why we are regarded as pottery capital of Ekiti, but what have we achieved or done with this potential? This endowment can be replicated a thousand folds across Nigeria.
“In Ijero Ekiti, there is feldspar, tantalite, Kaolin and many others. Even just look at the stones across the country, if it is just to cut and polish and use as tiles, one cannot imagine the huge economic gains and the employment it will generate, let alone the export earnings involved.
“We have been getting cheap money from oil and now the cheap money is gone. Now, we have to look inward and that was exactly what the budget is targeted to achieve,” he explained.
Fayemi, who spoke in his native home, Isan-Ekiti in Oye Local Government Area of Ekiti State, on Sunday at a special thanksgiving Mass on his appointment as a minister, also lamented what he described as the neglect of the mineral potentials of the country, since independence.
He noted that the solid minerals sector of the country had the capacity to turn around the country’s economy, when its local consumption by industries and export benefits were considered.
He said: “The former governor of Lagos State, who superintends over the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing with about N433 billion budgetary provision, cannot say the amount is enough to turn around the facilities of this country if you look at what was involved.
“Lagos-Ibadan expressway alone will gulp a sum of N250 billion while the remaining amount may go with the second Niger Bridge, so no Minister can say the amount budgeted is more than enough.”
Speaking on the budget, the minister said the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing that received N433 billion share in the 2016 budget could still not boast that the amount would be enough to turn around the infrastructural facilities across the nation, saying no amount, that is budgeted to develop a vast country like Nigeria, was too much.
Fayemi said the 2016 budget was targeted at improving Nigerians' lives, promising that it will be pursued with passion to realise its focus.
He said: “The budget presented by President Buhari has a focus and the focus is to improve on the well being of all Nigerians and to improve on the infrastructural facilities across the nation. So, what we need now is to prove our mettle by being innovative and creative. We need to work very hard to actualise the focus of this budget and this will only be measured by the level of impact we are able to make on Nigerian masses.”
On the solid mineral potentials of the country, Fayemi said the Nigeria’s self-sufficiency in cement production was enough to attest to the fact that the country was richly blessed.
“Nigeria is well endowed. Our self-sufficiency in limestone for production of cement, marble, ceramic and many others in terms of local consumption and export rate, one would know that Nigeria is endowed.
“In Isan Ekiti here, we have clay and kaolin and that was why we are regarded as pottery capital of Ekiti, but what have we achieved or done with this potential? This endowment can be replicated a thousand folds across Nigeria.
“In Ijero Ekiti, there is feldspar, tantalite, Kaolin and many others. Even just look at the stones across the country, if it is just to cut and polish and use as tiles, one cannot imagine the huge economic gains and the employment it will generate, let alone the export earnings involved.
“We have been getting cheap money from oil and now the cheap money is gone. Now, we have to look inward and that was exactly what the budget is targeted to achieve,” he explained.
No comments:
Post a Comment