W’Bank Approves $150m For Nigeria’s Mining Sector

The World Bank on Wednesday approved 150 million dollars credit to help increase the mining sector’s contribution to the Nigerian economy.
The senior communications officer of the bank, Ms Olufunke Olufon, said in a statement in Abuja that the project would help to establish a strong foundation for the mining sector development in the country.
Olufon said that the credit world also enhance competitiveness by improving information infrastructure and knowledge of mining.
She said that it would equally help in strengthening key government institutions and foster domestic investments in the sector.
According to her, “the project will help develop measures for formalizing, regulating and inventoring artisan and small scale mining, facilitate the flow of mineral fractions and facilitate access to finance”.
She added, “it will facilitate access to technology and equipment increase knowledge and support the  mining and processing of minerals in accordance with best practices”, adding that environmental and social protection will also be enhanced by the credit line.
The World Bank communication officer also said the expected results include the ability to attract and develop mineral transactions on medium and large mining operations and any other mining related investments.
The statement went on to quote the World Bank Country Director, Rachid Benmessaoudm as saying, “Nigeria has a favourable geological potential, the potential is such that if adequately assessed, well exploited and managed in a sustainable way can support broader economic growth through the mineral sector”.
Benmessaoudm stated  that one of the theory objectives of the project was to support Nigerian government’s priority to diversify the economy to a broader range of non-oil products.
The global financial giant stated that the current productivity from the Nigerian mining sector was still insufficient to meet local demands, particularly for industrial minerals.