The chairman, Senate Committee on Solid Mineral and Steel Development, Tanko Almakura, has said that there is great hope for the solid mineral industry to grow in the country.
According to him,the framework for effective growth of the industry has been laid in the budget, which the committee presented before the main Appropriation committee on Thursday.
The former governor said: “The so much talked about economic growth and diversification, which the solid minerals is supposed to drive among other sectors like agriculture and power may not be realized if certain special consideration is not made to the Ministry of Solid Minerals to drive this process.”
He said solid minerals has the capacity to create wealth across the country because every state has natural endowment, adding, “there’s no state that doesn’t have one kind of solid mineral or another.”
He advised that the government should take into consideration the wide spread-presence of these minerals across the states and give proper funding to the sector to realise the multiplicity of opportunities it offers across the states.
