Post by Trade facilitator on Mar 24, 2013 23:10:24 GMT 1
Solid minerals are found in every nook and cranny of Nigeria’s territories. The potentialities of these solid minerals, if harnessed properly, can propel the nation’s economy faster than crude oil which has become the economic mainstay.
The failure of successive governments and indeed the citizenry to tap into other sectors of the economy, apart from oil, has been blamed for Nigeria’s economic woes. President Goodluck Jonathan-run government is not resting on its oars to diversify Nigeria’s economy through harnessing the country’s abundant solid mineral resources. Against this backdrop, the Nigerian Export Import Bank, (NEXIM), has articulated and sustained a blueprint to enhance the development of Nigeria’s solid minerals through financial interventions. As at 2011, NEXIM has identified the subsectors in the solid minerals to include ferrous and non-ferrous metals, stones and gems and energy minerals. These subsectors have been identified as being highly capital intensive, characterised by heavy government presence as well as policy inconsistency. This sector is also largely untapped. Its projected growth was estimated at 8.96% as at 2009.
NEXIM Bank’s framework from 2010 to 2015 targets making this sector to significantly contribute towards creating an internationally competitive and attractive destination for capital for the profitability of the nation’s mineral resources, provide 16.1% (about N9bn) of the solid mineral sector’s financing requirement, account for 0.82% of the sector’s GDP, and create and sustain 2, 885 jobs within the solid minerals sector through project finance activities.
With the visionary and proactive leadership of Mr. Roberts Orya in NEXIM Bank, there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Orya’s giant strides have repositioned NEXIM on its fundamental mandates.
NEXIM Bank’s blueprint is aimed at propelling the non-oil sectors of Nigeria’s economy to a grand-level. The bank’s key areas of concentration are manufacturing, agriculture, solid minerals and services. The goal is to become the leading export development bank in Africa.
The objectives of developing these non-oil sectors are to have a clear market focus and become a major contributor to non-oil exports, build a world-class institution which imbibes best-in class corporate governance and risk management practices; be a relevant player in the export market and significantly influence government trade policies; build a profitable institution with a robust balance sheet size with a highly skilled and motivated workforce.
Findings indicate that NEXIM Bank has so far committed about nine per cent of its total investment development portfolio, about N2.5 billion, to the development of the country’s solid mineral sector since August 2009. Its MD/CEO, Roberts Orya, revealed this when he played host to the Patrons of the Miners’ Association of Nigeria. He disclosed to the joy of his visitors that the bank was ready to support the solid minerals as a cardinal sector under its MASS (manufacturing, agro-processing, solid minerals and services) agenda.
Echoing him, “This commitment does not scratch the surface of the sector’s requirement if Nigeria is to take advantage and benefit from the huge mineral deposits which God has blessed the country. Solid minerals mining is a highly capital intensive area, and requires strong government intervention to unlock its huge revenue and job creation benefits for the country.”
He made a clarion call on the association to produce its strategic framework to better structure and attract sustainable investments to the sector. He said the agenda focused on issues of mutual cooperation with NEXIM and the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development towards the development of the sector.
He also revealed that Nigeria is endowed with more than 33 commercially viable solid minerals that could be exploited for the country’s economic benefit. These include gold, lead-zinc ore (Galena), iron ore, columbite, ilmenite, cassiterite, uranium, copper, molybdenite, manganese, wolframite, rutile and diorite, bauxite, gypsum, talc, bentonite and barite, rock salt, gem stones, and kaolin.
Using the statistics from the Mining Cadastre Office and the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency factsheet, Mr. Orya said the picture of the benefits would be appreciated more when it is considered that some of these minerals are in very dense deposits. According to him, minerals like talc has been identified as having deposits in excess of 40 million tonnes in locations such as Niger, Osun, Kogi, Ogun and Kaduna states; iron ore, with over 3 billion metric tonnes of deposits in Kogi, Enugu and Niger states as well as the Federal Capital Territory; and lead/zinc veins, about 10 million tonnes of deposits spread over eight states.
Others include bitumen about 42 billion tonnes deposits, which almost twice the existing crude oil reserves, making Nigeria one of the world’s most bituminous destinations owing to its low sulphur and ash content and the most environment-friendly; and coal, nearly three billion tonnes of reserves in 17 identified fields and over 600 million tonnes of proven reserves.
Sources at the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, indicate that the solid minerals sector contributes less than one per cent to the country Gross Domestic Product, GDP, as against nine per cent of South Africa’s GDP in 2011.
“For NEXIM, the critical issues range from how to get the government and other stakeholders to properly structure the mining sector, increase funding, and attract much needed investment capital; infrastructural development for the industry, especially the establishment of internationally certified laboratories and setting up of internationally recognized and endorsed mining calendar for Nigeria as prevalent in other regimes with dedicated attention to solid mineral exploitation,” Mr. Orya said.
The president, Miners’ Association of Nigeria, Sani Shehu, had at the event thanked the NEXIM Bank management for its commitment and support to its members in the quest to open up the solid mineral sector. He said the group is overwhelmed by the passion of the bank to support the players towards the growth of the mining industry in Nigeria.
As a capital-intensive industry, which requires long-term investments before its potential could be fully realised, Mr. Shehu cited the experience in India, which is less endowed with solid minerals than Nigeria, but is currently earning about $75 billion (about N11.3 trillion) annually from solid minerals.
“It took South Africa more than 15 years of steady investment to get there and the country now earns over $30 billion (about N4.5 trillion) annually from the sub-sector,” he said.
With the commitment of NEXIM Bank towards revitalising Nigeria’s solid mineral sector, it is hoped that it will bring a new dawn on the country’s economy which has been branded all sorts of name because of its oil-based nature and lack of innovations. All hands must be on deck to attain this goal.
•Dr. Ogenekawe is a research fellow in agro economics.
Source:
www.thisdaylive.com/articles/nexim-bank-and-solid-mineral-development/143010/
The failure of successive governments and indeed the citizenry to tap into other sectors of the economy, apart from oil, has been blamed for Nigeria’s economic woes. President Goodluck Jonathan-run government is not resting on its oars to diversify Nigeria’s economy through harnessing the country’s abundant solid mineral resources. Against this backdrop, the Nigerian Export Import Bank, (NEXIM), has articulated and sustained a blueprint to enhance the development of Nigeria’s solid minerals through financial interventions. As at 2011, NEXIM has identified the subsectors in the solid minerals to include ferrous and non-ferrous metals, stones and gems and energy minerals. These subsectors have been identified as being highly capital intensive, characterised by heavy government presence as well as policy inconsistency. This sector is also largely untapped. Its projected growth was estimated at 8.96% as at 2009.
NEXIM Bank’s framework from 2010 to 2015 targets making this sector to significantly contribute towards creating an internationally competitive and attractive destination for capital for the profitability of the nation’s mineral resources, provide 16.1% (about N9bn) of the solid mineral sector’s financing requirement, account for 0.82% of the sector’s GDP, and create and sustain 2, 885 jobs within the solid minerals sector through project finance activities.
With the visionary and proactive leadership of Mr. Roberts Orya in NEXIM Bank, there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Orya’s giant strides have repositioned NEXIM on its fundamental mandates.
NEXIM Bank’s blueprint is aimed at propelling the non-oil sectors of Nigeria’s economy to a grand-level. The bank’s key areas of concentration are manufacturing, agriculture, solid minerals and services. The goal is to become the leading export development bank in Africa.
The objectives of developing these non-oil sectors are to have a clear market focus and become a major contributor to non-oil exports, build a world-class institution which imbibes best-in class corporate governance and risk management practices; be a relevant player in the export market and significantly influence government trade policies; build a profitable institution with a robust balance sheet size with a highly skilled and motivated workforce.
Findings indicate that NEXIM Bank has so far committed about nine per cent of its total investment development portfolio, about N2.5 billion, to the development of the country’s solid mineral sector since August 2009. Its MD/CEO, Roberts Orya, revealed this when he played host to the Patrons of the Miners’ Association of Nigeria. He disclosed to the joy of his visitors that the bank was ready to support the solid minerals as a cardinal sector under its MASS (manufacturing, agro-processing, solid minerals and services) agenda.
Echoing him, “This commitment does not scratch the surface of the sector’s requirement if Nigeria is to take advantage and benefit from the huge mineral deposits which God has blessed the country. Solid minerals mining is a highly capital intensive area, and requires strong government intervention to unlock its huge revenue and job creation benefits for the country.”
He made a clarion call on the association to produce its strategic framework to better structure and attract sustainable investments to the sector. He said the agenda focused on issues of mutual cooperation with NEXIM and the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development towards the development of the sector.
He also revealed that Nigeria is endowed with more than 33 commercially viable solid minerals that could be exploited for the country’s economic benefit. These include gold, lead-zinc ore (Galena), iron ore, columbite, ilmenite, cassiterite, uranium, copper, molybdenite, manganese, wolframite, rutile and diorite, bauxite, gypsum, talc, bentonite and barite, rock salt, gem stones, and kaolin.
Using the statistics from the Mining Cadastre Office and the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency factsheet, Mr. Orya said the picture of the benefits would be appreciated more when it is considered that some of these minerals are in very dense deposits. According to him, minerals like talc has been identified as having deposits in excess of 40 million tonnes in locations such as Niger, Osun, Kogi, Ogun and Kaduna states; iron ore, with over 3 billion metric tonnes of deposits in Kogi, Enugu and Niger states as well as the Federal Capital Territory; and lead/zinc veins, about 10 million tonnes of deposits spread over eight states.
Others include bitumen about 42 billion tonnes deposits, which almost twice the existing crude oil reserves, making Nigeria one of the world’s most bituminous destinations owing to its low sulphur and ash content and the most environment-friendly; and coal, nearly three billion tonnes of reserves in 17 identified fields and over 600 million tonnes of proven reserves.
Sources at the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, indicate that the solid minerals sector contributes less than one per cent to the country Gross Domestic Product, GDP, as against nine per cent of South Africa’s GDP in 2011.
“For NEXIM, the critical issues range from how to get the government and other stakeholders to properly structure the mining sector, increase funding, and attract much needed investment capital; infrastructural development for the industry, especially the establishment of internationally certified laboratories and setting up of internationally recognized and endorsed mining calendar for Nigeria as prevalent in other regimes with dedicated attention to solid mineral exploitation,” Mr. Orya said.
The president, Miners’ Association of Nigeria, Sani Shehu, had at the event thanked the NEXIM Bank management for its commitment and support to its members in the quest to open up the solid mineral sector. He said the group is overwhelmed by the passion of the bank to support the players towards the growth of the mining industry in Nigeria.
As a capital-intensive industry, which requires long-term investments before its potential could be fully realised, Mr. Shehu cited the experience in India, which is less endowed with solid minerals than Nigeria, but is currently earning about $75 billion (about N11.3 trillion) annually from solid minerals.
“It took South Africa more than 15 years of steady investment to get there and the country now earns over $30 billion (about N4.5 trillion) annually from the sub-sector,” he said.
With the commitment of NEXIM Bank towards revitalising Nigeria’s solid mineral sector, it is hoped that it will bring a new dawn on the country’s economy which has been branded all sorts of name because of its oil-based nature and lack of innovations. All hands must be on deck to attain this goal.
•Dr. Ogenekawe is a research fellow in agro economics.
Source:
www.thisdaylive.com/articles/nexim-bank-and-solid-mineral-development/143010/
