By OLALEKAN BADMOS
Nigeria has discovered another 44 mineral deposits in 800
locations across the country, President Goodluck Jonathan has said.
The President, who disclosed this at the 50th Annual
International Conference and Exhibitions of Nigerian Mining and Geosciences
Society (NMGS) held in Benin, Edo state on Tuesday, said the new discovery
would change the nation’s monolithic economic nature in due course.
According to him, the newly discovered deposits are in
addition to the over 50 billion barrels of oil reserves.
President Jonathan was represented at the occasion by the
Minister of Minister of Mines & Steel Development, Arch. Musa Mohammed
Sada.
Assessing the impact of the road map for the development of
solid mineral sector drawn in 2012, the President noted that its implementation
has led to increased sustained flow of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in
exploration and extraction of minerals-which included coal, gold, iron and ore.
"We are full of optimism that not only will more
mineral types and new locations be discovered, the exploration and exploitation
of these valuable endowment will lead to employment generation and increased
contributions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
"It’s on record that the contribution of the extractive
sector to the Nigerian economy surpasses the contribution of any other sector
in view of the fact that the Petroleum sub-sector alone contributes over 90
percent of the nation’s export earnings–raging from job creation, infrastructural
development to mention a few," he added.
Meanwhile, NMGS in its
communiqué to commemorate the golden jubilee celebration, decried the
delay in the passage of Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), stating that it was a
major setback to the realization of the vision of vibrant oil and gas industry.
The Society therefore called for the control of attended
environmental issues arising thereon in line with the relevant mining laws.
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