Solid Mineral: Fed Govt partner PWC, design new roadmap to transform sector 

The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, will work with consulting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), to execute the seven-point roadmap to transform the sector.

Solid Minerals Development Minister Dele Alake stated this yesterday after receiving the PWC partner on mining, Mr. Habeeb Jaiyeola in his office.

According to a statement by Mr. Segun Tomori, the minister’s Special Assistant on Media, Alake commended the firm for its role in the just-concluded Nigerian Mining Week and the first phase of the bitumen concession programmed.

Dr. Alake thanked the firm for its contribution to the mining sector over the years, assuring that the expertise and ideas of PwC would be factored into reforms of the mining sector and implementation of the seven-point agenda.

He added that President Bola Tinubu was focused on the sector as a game changer in the bid to reposition the country for lasting prosperity.

Responding, Jaiyeola expressed PwC’s readiness to partner with the Ministry in achieving the objectives of the agenda which seeks to make the solid minerals a key sector to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to the country.

“We summarised our thoughts on the seven-point agenda, looking at it and suggesting how to bring it to life whilst advising on pitfalls and how to avoid them.

The major thing is that at the end of the tenure of the administration, there will be key deliverables that can be monitored, and the roadmap on how each of them is going to be achieved and projected.

“We will be open to further deliberations on how we can proceed by comparing notes,” Jaiyeola was quoted to have said.

The minister recently reeled out a seven-point agenda tagged: “Agenda for the Transformation of the solid minerals sector for international competitiveness and domestic prosperity”.

It includes the creation of the Nigerian Solid Minerals Corporation, Big Data on specific seven priority minerals and their deposits and a comprehensive review of all mining licenses, amongst others.