At the recent Ministerial Roundtable on Powering Africa in Washington DC in the United States of America, Minister of Solid Minerals Honourable Oladele Alake has advised mineral-rich African countries to use the proven mineral reserves of their countries as equity in joint ventures instead of embarking on loans that worsen the plight of their people.
The Minister of Solid Minerals whose presentation set the tone for the meetings with investors in the sidelines of the Conference stressed the unwholesome pressure on African Governments by loan marketers despite global concerns over the declining capacity of many countries to settle their debts.
The Minister speaking through his Media Spokesperson person Segun Tomori added that “It is an interesting paradox that inspite of their chronic indebtedness, African countries remain the target of institutional and private loan sharks marketing short and long term credit to Ministries,Departments and Agencies”.
The Chairman of the African Leaders Strategy Group further decried the unhealthy practice of Loan Marketers who target African Countries within the first month a Minister is sworn into office, literarily bombarding then with all manners of loans promising above the table and under the table deals.”
Honourable Alake therefore called on the body of Ministers of Mining and Mineral Development in Africa to seek alternatives to loans, which he believed could be achieved by using proven mineral reserves as equity.
Throwing more light on the vision of the Tinubu administration to reposition the sector to compete favourably in the market space, in top-level talks with the delegation of the United States International Development Finance Corporation (IDFC), Honourable Alake said “the administration has focused on developing the critical minerals sector to diversify the economy from oil, there are certain things that we need to bolster that sector, and all the support we can get is crucial . First and foremost is critical big data, which is exploration. We are actively working to sanitise the sector, including establishing a new security architecture to secure the mining environment”.
Speaking further at the parley with the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the US IDFC, Agnes Dasewicz and her team, Alake stated that Nigeria has an abundance of 44 critical minerals that exist in commercial quantities, emphasising on-going reforms by the President Tinubu administration are poised to sanitise the sector and make it attractive to big players.
In her submission, Dasewicz lauded the renewed focus on solid minerals by Nigeria, emphasising her corporation’s interest in providing the required support to strengthen the mining sector value chain.
Agnes Dasewicz stated further; “We very much partner with private sector players to deliver financing to mining companies to help them really expand what they can do. Some of the focus sectors that we have are critical minerals and infrastructure; health and agriculture as well as energy. We would love to do more in the critical mineral sectors, and we know there is a lot of potential in that regard, in Nigeria”.
Honourable Alake had fruitful deliberations with a cross section of other private sector players in the mining industry, including KRL International, securing their commitment to take more than a cursory look at the mining sector.” it is therefore hoped that areas of partnership will be further explored by the Minister’s team comprising the Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF) Executive Secretary, Fatima Shinkafi and other top Ministry officials and representatives of the US IDFC.