By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA-MINERS under the auspices of Miners Association of Nigeria, MAN, Thursday, hailed the Federal Government over approval of N12.7 billion for exploration data generation for investors and operators in the mining sector.

The commendation was made by the National President, MAN, Sani Shehu, describing it as good omen and step in the right direction for the sector’s development and productivity.

He said: “It is a good omen for the sector. I mean operators and other stakeholders. As operators we understand the critical nature of data generation in a formalized mining situation, therefore, data generation of this magnitude cannot be done except by the government.

“So I think it is a step in the right direction and that would also attract foreign investments.

“This will also simplify our search for minerals so business can be made with ease. I think that tallies with government’s initiative of ease of doing business.

However, he said the statement of the Minister still demands more details on “Who is going to do what, which states the exploration will be done, the minerals mentioned are in many states, and we do not know which of them the exploration will be carried out, when is it to be carried out? So we need to await details from the Minister for further comments.”

He added that the amount approved cannot cover all the states in the country for mining data generation, which will lead to selection of states for exploration activities based on the approved N12.7 billion by the government.

“The N12.7 billion will not be able to adequately cover all the states in Nigeria, so there would be selection of states to start with, and as for exploration time goes on I know more funds would be made available for the continuous exploration exercise”, he said.

It will be called that the Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Abubakar Bwari, Wednesday, said that the Federal Executive Council, FEC, approved N12.7 billion for exploration and consultancy projects in the mining sector, adding that the projects will help in getting accurate mining data, which will attract local and foreign investments.

He also noted that major challenge in the diversification programme of the government in the mining sector has been that of data, which he said exploration data will focus on gold, industrial minerals, earth metals and iron ore.

According to him four companies in exploration and four companies in consultancy side of the project, therefore N12.7 billion worth of contract has been awarded to the eight companies to commence work.

“And with this, we will encourage both local and foreign investors to come in. Our Major challenge is the bankable data, most mining companies will not want to come into your country when they are not sure of what they are going to meet.

“We really need to explore because you cannot mine without information and information can only be gotten through exploration”, he stated.