… Seeks an end to illegal mining

Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, has called for more state inclusion in the exploitation of the nation’s solid minerals to enable the nation actualise the sector’s huge potential and help diversify the nation’s economy.

Mbah also decried the nation’s huge losses to illegal mining.

The governor spoke when he received members of the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals Development, who were on a working visit to Government House, Enugu, on Tuesday.

“I also think that this Committee’s task is a very important task because solid minerals hold a very huge economic opportunity for this country, particularly when we think of economic diversification.

“I am sure that you would ensure that there is more state inclusion or more state participation in the expoloration or exploitation of the solid mineral. Both the national and sub-national governments hold very huge potential. This is why your Committee is of immense importance to the entire country because a lot of these assets are lying dormant or largely left in the hands of illegal miners. And that must end with the work your committee is doing. So, we seek, as a government, to have more inclusion,” he stated.

The governor called on the Senate to help to resolve the conflicts around right to mining of some solid minerals.

“The Nigerian Inland Waterway Act and the Mining Act has been at loggerheads as to who holds the right to mining sand along the coastal areas. So, I hope that that is also something that your Committtee will be looking into,” he said.

While pledging full cooperation of the Enugu State Government with the federal legislature and the federal government as a whole towards repositioning the nation’s solid minerals sector, Mbah called for the development of geospatial data to catalyse investment in the sector.

“Part of the major challenges in exploring fully the mining or the solid mineral sector is the lack of data; and when you have them, they are obsolete. Even when they are current, they are not enough for one to make investment decisions with it.

“But if there is a clear line of responsibility, and when we understand clearly what the corresponding benefits are, then they would be able to attract the big companies that would invest in that sector,’ he concluded.

Meanwhile, earlier in his remark, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals Development, Senator Ekong Sampson, said Enugu State “holds a strategic place within the minerals landscape of Nigeria.”

“The Senate recognises the state’s rich mineral profile, and the potential it holds for socioeconomic growth. The state is not only prominent for coal in Udi, geological data also suggests valuable deposits of limestone in Nkanu and Oji River, iron ore in Nsukka and Ogbete, as well as silica and laterite in many parts of the state.

“These minerals present significant opportunities for investment, job creation, and economic development of Enugu State and Nigeria. So, as a Senate, we remain committed to exploring all available avenues towards ensuring that the great expectations of Nigerians in the mining sector are met,” he said.

While commending the governor for his strides in the solid minerals development and general development of the state, he pledged the Senate’s collaboration with the state “in sharing ideas, crafting legislations, and creating the enabling legal, regulatory and governance framework to realise President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.”