The Bank of Industry on Wednesday put its total loan portfolio in the solid minerals sector of the economy at N24.6 billion.
The Managing Director, BoI, Mr Rasheed Olaoluwa, said this in Abuja at the opening session of the bank’s one day Solid Mineral Sensitisation Forum tagged “ investment opportunities in the solid minerals sector’’.
He said the bank decided to improve funding to the sector due to the challenges facing the economy following the decline in revenue from the oil glut in the international market.
He said the sensitisation was part of measures by the bank to stimulate private sector investment into the solid minerals sector. Olaoluwa said while other African countries took advantage of the huge potentials in the solid minerals sector which accounted for over 70 per cent of their revenues, Nigeria had yet to benefit from the sector.
He said there were about 44 solid minerals in the country that were identified by the Federal Government that would generate investments, create jobs and reduce the level of poverty in the country.
“Before independence, Nigeria had a solid mining industry. Later, the economy started relying extensively on petroleum from the 1970s.
The dwindling oil revenue in recent times has made solid minerals a tool for diversification and this can be leveraged for economic growth as recommended by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in its 2013 report. The mining sector is the gold mine for many African countries. Zambia derives more than 70 per cent of its revenue from copper, Ghana from gold, and Namibia from uranium.”
Olaoluwa said the bank had realised the potentials of the sector, thus it had realigned its operation to the financing of the sector through the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP). The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel, Mr Baba Farouk, said over the years, government had established legal and regulatory framework to guide the activities of the sector.