President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said the resolve of some individuals to breaking the laws and engaging in outright criminality through banditry and other illegal activities are having serious implications on the various reform agenda of his administration, especially in the mineral, energy and agricultural sectors.
The President who said it is difficult to achieve any meaningful development in any environment plagued with security challenges, explained that intelligence gathering efforts has confirmed that most of the criminal elements have infiltrated the mining industry and using it as means of funding despicable activities.
This is as the President also acknowledged the mining industry as having a large capacity in creating well-paying jobs and wealth for the people.
The President spoke on Tuesday at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, venue of the opening of the 56th Annual International Conference and Exhibition of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS).
The conference with the theme “Responsible Exploration and Exploitation of Mineral Resources in a Secured Environment” was attended by the Governor Seyi Makinde, Minister of state for Mines and Steel, Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Minister of States, Mines and Steel Development, Dr Uchechukwu Ogah, Group Managing Director, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Merle Kyri, Chairman, Senate Committee on legislative Compliance, Senator Adelere Oriolowo, Acting Vice Chancellor, UI, Professor Babatunde Ekanola among others.
Speaking through the Minister of State, Mines and Steel Development, Dr Uchechukwu Ogar, President Buhari said the need to improve the sector necessitated the roll-out of series of policy initiatives aimed at not only revamping the Nigerian economy but to ensure that the economic growth arising therefrom are inclusive and sustainable.
He said; “As a nation, we are currently battling various forms of security challenges and working relentlessly in providing innovative solutions to the myriads of challenges that are confronting the citizens.
“A few of our people had resorted to breaking the law and outright criminality by engaging in banditry and all sorts of illegal activities.
“These nefarious activities have serious implications for the various reform agendas this administration has embarked upon in the mineral, energy and agricultural sectors. It is difficult to achieve any meaningful development in any environment plagued with security challenges.
“The reality of this truth is most obvious in the minerals sector given the fact that mining activities take place in remote localities.
“Our intelligence gathering efforts has confirmed that most of these criminal elements has infiltrated the mining industry and are using it as means of funding their despicable activities. It is with this understanding that we recently took the painful but necessary decision of banning all forms of mining activities in Zamfara State where armed banditry has persisted.
“It is also to this end that I directed the Ministers of Mines and Steel Development to strengthen collaboration with State Governments and relevant security agencies to ensure the security and safety of all mining areas.
“In so doing, we can achieve sustainable development of the minerals sector for the peace and security of our great country and good people.
“It is in furtherance of our commitment and resolve to address the security challenges that I recently charged the newly decorated Service Chiefs that they have just few weeks to crush all forms of criminality in the country.
“We cannot yield the sovereignty of our nation to a bunch of individuals who have refused to see reasons to abandon their criminality. The Security Chiefs have been mandated to forcefully bring this criminality to an immediate end. Let me reiterate that the Government is more than capable and more than ever determined to halt all forms of criminality perpetuated by these individuals.”
Speaking on the efforts made to diversify the economy, the President expressed optimism in the capacity of the mining and agricultural sector to provide a viable option.
“Distinguished mining engineers and geoscientists, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to use this forum to reiterate my administration’s commitment to diversifying the nation’s economy away from dependence on oil & gas using Mining and Agriculture sectors as viable options.
“I have no doubt that these sectors have huge economic potentials. The mining industry for example has large capacity in creating well-paying jobs and wealth for our people.
“The centrality of the development of the mineral and energy sectors in the rejigging of the nation’s economy had necessitated the roll-out of series of policy initiatives aimed at not only revamping the Nigerian economy but to ensure that the economic growth arising therefrom are inclusive and sustainable.
“This means that we are not only interested in the macro-economic growth alone but in getting the growth to be felt by the most vulnerable groups of our citizens, who are usually left behind by the conventional economic models.
“In shaping the policies and initiatives in these sectors, the Administration has generously received massive technical support from the professional Societies and Associations making the policies indeed to be homegrown solutions rather than those imposed on us”, the President said.
In his address, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, noting that deregulation of oil was imminent stressed that there would be provision of cleaner petroleum motor spirit to Nigerians before the deregulation.
The minister, who was optimistic that the deregulation of PMS would be achieved this year, commended NMGS for its contribution to the development of oil and gas sector.
He said “We have been talking about deregulation for a very long time. For decades, we have been talking about deregulating, unfortunately, we have not succeeded. We have succeeded in deregulating some products.
“Kerosene has been fully deregulated; diesel has been fully deregulated. But deregulation of PMS has continued to elude us. We expect that this year, we will be able to achieve that.
“But before we do that, we want to apply the principle of tolling the roads, for example. Before you toll a road, you are expected to give an alternative.
“So what we want to do for Nigerians is to give a credible and cheaper fuel as an alternative before we fully deregulate and we believe we will be able to achieve this later this year.
“And this of course is going to be a responsible way of also maintaining our environment.”
In a paper titled: “Expanding the Frontiers of Exploration, Creating New Opportunities for Growth”, NNPC GMD, Mallam Merle Kyari said the nation needed to move away from oil and focus more on gas, while he pledged the readiness of NNPC to collaborate with relevant stakeholders to put the nation on the path of development.
He said “As transition to cleaner energy garner momentum, it is also expedient for oil rich Nations like Nigeria to produce proven oil and gas reserves resource to support growth, economic diversification and job creation to millions of young people.
“But this is not a statement of apprehension on global transition to cleaner energy, as crude oil is likely to remain relevant beyond the next fifty (50) years.
“This is owing to the fact that anticipated economic growth and rising global population especially in Asia and Africa where young people accounts for almost a half of the population will significantly push energy demand upward where renewable energy sources cannot meet by 2050.
“Global energy consumption is expected to grow from 2018 levels by about 50 percent by 2050. This means that oil will continue to be a crucial component of the world’s future energy and is likely to account for about 44 percent of World Energy Supply by 2050, compared to 53 percent today.
“While we expand exploration activities to enable reserve growth and ultimately produce more oil and gas to support growth, it is of strategic importance to be cost-sensitive as COVID-19 pandemic has subdued any survival strategy that is not cost-sensitive. Efficiency has therefore become the new necessity and not option.”
Speaking at the conference, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State called for the delisting of mineral resources from exclusive list for states to fully tap potential in mineral resources.
He also charged the National Assembly to push for resource control for the state to ensure meaningful development, saying “One of the factors holding back exploration and exploitation of mineral resources in various states, including Oyo State, is the ownership of resources.
“Mineral development and exploration are currently placed on the exclusive list of the Nigerian Constitution. This has retarded the development of the sector and eliminated direct state and local people’s participation.
“We know what this means in real terms: the state and the people have to wait to get a share of their natural resources instead of being the ones to share them.
“As a matter of fact and urgency, here in Oyo State, we call for the delisting of the mineral resource ownership and development from the exclusive list.”
Highpoint of the event was the conferment of the Fellowship Award of the NMGS on Governor Makinde, Silva, Dr Ogah and Posthumous honor on Mr Ojo Adebayo.

By Yinka Adeniran