An international consultant, Mr Vitor Correia, on Tuesday in Abuja, disclosed that Nigeria has a population growth rate of 450 million people by 2050, hence, the need for the Federal Government to utilize enormous potential available in the mining sector.

He said the country was endowed with a myriad of industrial minerals spread across Nigeria, lamenting that perpetual importation of industrial mining, was among other things, affecting the nation’s economic growth.

Mr Correia, while presenting a “Roadmap on the Development of Industrial Minerals in Nigeria: And Discussion on Status Report on Proof of Concept Programme,” put together by the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development in conjunction with World Bank, said mining is the sector that could provide wealth for many Nigerians.

He explained that the total estimated cost for the implementation of the project was 123 million US Dollars which would be spent over a five year period.

Also speaking, the World Bank representative, Mr Christopher Sheldon, said it was a bad news that despite the fact that Nigeria is richly endowed with industrial minerals, the country still imports over 72, 000 talc, 9, 000 barytes, 5, 000 mica and even silica sand.

He said the situation has become unacceptable as government ordered for immediate development of both the upstream and downstream linkages of the industrial mining value chain in the country.

In his keynote address, the Minister of State for Mines and Steels Development, Honourable Abubakar Bawa Bwari, said the programme was developed by the World Bank assisted Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification (MinDiver) project, and it would seek to facilitate competitive local production of industrial minerals commodity of required specifications by providing strategies for skilled labour development and improved access to finance.

He said other benefits include resolution of security issues, improvement in infrastructure, especially railway and the use of low energy cost that would facilitate the production of competitive industrial mineral products with the aim of attracting local users to look inwards for their sources of industrial minerals inputs.

•Sourced from a Tribune report

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