Business
VC Charts Path To Solid Minerals Dev
The Vice-Chancellor,
Ahmadu BelIo University, Zaria, Prof. Ibrahim Garba, says Nigeria needs the right attitude and knowledge to develop its solid minerals sector.
Garba, who is also the Chairman, Committee on Solid Minerals Development Roadmap, disclosed this in Abuja.
“There must be correct altitude and knowledge to know what you have and how to exploit it for the benefit of the country.
“There was nothing new in the solid minerals roadmap, but certainly the solid minerals (sector) is the one least understood by everybody – public, government and even by government officials themselves.
“It is a sector that is not known to Nigeria even though Nigeria had very glorious mining in the past which died since 1970s.
“And that is why the modern Nigeria has not come to know mining as a business, as a means of sustaining the nation’s economy, other than mining of petroleum which is also mining.”
Garba said for this reason, Nigeria had continued to struggle with the understanding of what it would take to develop the solid minerals sector.
He said that even though in the last 10 years, the Federal Government had been striving to reform the sector, unfortunately the sector had yet to occupy the right place in the development of the country’s economy.
He said the solid minerals sector remained largely undeveloped because of ignorance and poor attitude toward the sector.
Garba underscored the need for adopting the right approach for the sector, which was basically knowledge-based and knowledge-driven, to attract investors.
“We must have the correct altitude because it is a business sector where you need to attract investments and investment funds from potential investors,” he said.
The vice-chancellor said that the knowledge aspect of mining cut across scientific knowledge of knowing the minerals, knowing where they were, how they were formed and how to find them.
He said that government must also have knowledge of how to provide an environment that was conductive to investments and how to nurture the sector as means of development.
Garba said that mining was a potent means of revenue generation, adding that revenue generated must, however, be used for more sustainable development since mining was not renewable like agriculture.
“Mining is very destructive to the environment. It is based on finite resources means that the amount of resources you find will one day finish; it is not renewable.
“Due to these constraints and challenges around the sector, government upon government failed to understand probably what it takes to develop the sector. And whenever our leaders understand it, they failed to take the correct steps to make it work.
“In the last 10 years, the roadmap has been there but we miss it 10 years ago and we have to go back 10 years and recover the roadmap and follow it,” he said.
Garba said that 10 years ago, all the necessary instruments of reform, in terms of the legal framework, institutional framework and technical ingredients to push the sector forward, were put in place but were not followed.
He said Mining Act was enacted in 2007 and the institutional reforms were put in place in 2006, adding, however, that successive governments failed to develop the solid minerals sector up to the recommended level.
He emphasised that mining was a competitive sector and that Nigeria’s neighbours were doing well in the sector.
“Petroleum resources have spoiled everything in Nigeria. As long as petroleum dollars flow into this country without any efforts of our own, it will kill all morale and means of hard work.
“And this sector is not like petroleum, even though there are all minerals. It requires much hard work to get it going,” he said.
Garba recalled that 10 years ago, the solid minerals could have been well developed, with local and international input, adding that nowadays, its development required a different approach.
He said that in the course of the work on the roadmap, all the existing instruments were re-assembled and put in context in relation to the current realities in Nigeria.
“We needed this more today than 10 years back because our challenges today are worse than our challenges 10 years back,” he said.
He urged government to take deliberate steps aimed at promoting the development of the sector so that Nigeria would not miss the mark as it did 10 years ago.
Garba recalled during colonial era, all the mining activities in Nigeria were carried out 100 per cent by private sector companies.
He advised government to encourage private companies invest in the mining sector.
The Board stated this in a statement released by its Corporate Communications Directorate to newsmen, recently, during the inauguration of 140 trainees for the Train 7 Project.
The trainees had undergone the Nigerian Content Human Capacity Development (NC-HCD) programme it organised in partnership with the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
The Tide gathered that the training programme was an intensive three-month Advanced NC-HCD Programme for the US$5 billion NLNG Train 7 Project on Bonny Island, Rivers State.
The trainees, The Tide further learnt are graduates in different academic disciplines who have completed a 12-month Basic Training Programme in diverse oil-and-gas-industry-related skill sets and are now set for an on-the-job phase which includes active hands-on participation in operational areas such as Turn Around Maintenance (TAM), Commissioning, and Desktop Programmes.
The Corporate Communications Directorate of the NCDMB told The Tide that in November 2024, a set of 331 trainees under Batch A of the NLNG T7 HCD Training Programme began capacity development in facility management, engineering, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Health Safety and Environment (HSE), Quality Assurance and Quality Control, as well as welding and fabrication.
According to the Board, additional 77 trainees under Batch B of the same Training Programme began capacity development in data analytics and supply chain management among several other fields relevant to the operations of the oil and gas industry.
While addressing the trainees and trainers who were drawn from the Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN), Management Personnel of the NCDMB and NLNG, the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr Felix Omatsola Ogbe, said the Advanced NC-HCD training is more than a milestone.
“The NC-HCD training programme is an expression of the collective commitment of the Board and the NLNG to nurturing world-class Nigerian professionals who will shape the future of our oil and gas industry.
“The Board has remained steadfast in its conviction that Human Capital Development is a critical investment in the sustainability and competitiveness of Nigeria’s oil and gas value chain”, the NCDMB boss said.
He said the situation has resulted in widened knowledge gaps and operational challenges.
As a globally regulated sector, he said it was important that stakeholders put measures in place to attract the talents required to move the industry forward.
Keyamo, therefore, called on stakeholders in the industry to be deliberate in identifying, encouraging, nurturing and harvesting young talents to ensure a sustainable supply of manpower to the aviation sector.
Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection of the FAAN, Mrs Obiageli Orah, in a release made available to aviation correspondents, noted that the Minister deemed it necessary to attract the right quality of human resources required to move the sector forward.
“As a globally regulated sector, it is important that stakeholders put measures in place to continually attract the right quality and quantity of human resources required to move the industry forward.
“It is important to note that organising training programmes are avenues through which we can breed, nurture, and harvest such human resources.
“One of the critical challenges facing the industry is the ageing and retiring workforce, leading to widened knowledge gaps and operational issues.
“Training programmes, I believe, is among other things designed to make aviation appealing to the younger generation, while encouraging them to develop interest in taking up a career in the industry”, the statement stated.
Meanwhile, some aviation stakeholders have expressed concerns of countless young Nigerians who seek to make their mark in aviation, tourism, and the wider transport ecosystem but often face steep barriers to entry.
According to them, lack of access, limited mentorship, financial constraints, skill mismatches, and systemic gaps, among others, have posed some constraints to them.
The Tide gathered that by the appointment, Ogbe becomes Nigeria’s representative on the Board of the 18-member continental body, which has its headquarters at Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo.
Ogbe was picked for this role by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, who doubles as the Chairman of the NCDMB Governing Council.
The notice of the Executive Secretary’s appointment was conveyed in a congratulatory letter signed by the Director of Support Services, APPO, Mrs. Philomena Ikoko, on behalf of the Secretary-General of the organisation, Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim.
She applauded the NCDMB boss on the confidence reposed in him by the Minister, expressing her belief that he would make immense contributions to the development of the African oil and gas industry.
Mrs Ikoko stated that Ogbe was joining the Executive Board of APPO at a challenging time for the oil and gas industry, especially in Africa.
“Your appointment is a major call to duty for Nigeria and the continent. The secretariat will give you the support you will need to make a success of your assignment”, she said.
According to a statement by the Directorate of Corporate Communications and Zonal Coordination, the NCDMB played key roles in catalysing the operations of APPO and the development of local content in Africa.
The statement added that the board was providing institutional support and mentorship to several oil producing countries in their formulation of local content policies.
“The NCDMB initiated the African Local Content Roundtable (ALCR) and hosted the inaugural edition in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state, in June 2021, and the event was attended by key officials of APPO and other oil industry players.
“The idea for the Africa Energy Bank (AEB) was mooted by NCDMB’s officials at the event, as one of the strategies that would accelerate the growth of the African oil and gas industry and deepen local content.
“The Board also collaborated with APPO to host subsequent editions of the African Local Content Roundtable (ALCR), including the 2023 edition held at Abuja.
“The Africa Energy Bank, which APPO is setting up at Abuja, is aimed at pooling financial resources needed to fund big-ticket oil and gas projects across the continent, and bridge funding challenges currently impeding the development of the sector”, the NCDMB’S said.
Meanwhile, the APPO Secretary-General has said the Africa Energy Bank seeks to fund oil and gas projects across economies in Africa and help to plug critical financing gaps that exist through the continent’s over reliance on financiers from the West.
He added that each APPO member country is expected to raise $83 million with an objective of raising $5 billion capital for the establishment of the Bank.
The Tide learnt that recently Nigeria, Angola and Ghana have contributed their share capital for the African Energy Bank, which represents 44 percent of the trio’s contributions to the minimum capital that is required from oil producing countries in the continent.
It would be recalled that at the Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair (NOGOF) held recently, the NCDMB’s Scribe confirmed that the agency was part of key institutions that pooled resources for the formation of the Africa Energy Bank.
Ogbe announced that the Bank will open for business before the end of the 2nd quarter of this year, 2025, expressing hope that it will create more funding availability for local oil and gas projects and companies.
Similarly, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, had stated at the Offshore Technology Conference that Afrexim Bank has already raised $19billion for the take-off of the Africa Energy Bank.
According to him, $14 billion out of the funds represents the bank’s financial exposure on African oil and gas projects, with the additional $5 billion as take-off capital.