By Gabriel Ewepu, ABUJA

The Federal Government, yesterday, assured that Nigeria and other African countries will harness natural resources to boost development in the continent.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Mary Ogbe, stated this during the briefing of the Diplomatic Community ahead of the Africa Natural Resource and Energy Investment Summit (AFNIS-2023), scheduled to hold between 31st October to 2nd November, 2023. The event held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Headquarters in Abuja.

According to Ogbe while speaking during the interactive and briefing session with the Diplomatic Corps,
the AFNIS Summit, said the AFNIS Summit, which is an African knowledge sharing platform initiated by the Nigerian Government, Nigeria will work with fellow African Nations to continue the sustainable development of Africa’s natural resources through knowledge sharing, investment and trade.

She said: “This forum was
initiated to strategize on how Africa can continue to receive investment from its vast mineral resource deposits while also protecting its environment.

“The Summit thus provides a global platform for Africa to encourage investment in its Power, Energy (Oil and Gas) and Mining sectors.”

She also urged African countries and allies to participate in building on the successes recorded during the maiden edition of AFNIS held last year 2022.

Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Adamu Ibrahim Lamuwa, in a remark posited that it was high time Africa gave adequate attention to developing its huge natural and energy resources for the benefit of the African continent, adding that “a better Africa can be achieved” with AFNIS.

Also speaking, the Managing Director, Core-I-Mine and co-founder AFNIS, Dr Abubakar Lawal, stated that the theme of the summit – ”Towards a Just Transition” described the Summit as apt as it “will explore strategies to address challenges linked to the shift from fossil fuels, with a focus on minimizing adverse impacts on economies rooted in these sectors.

”AFNIS 2023 central objective is to strike a delicate balance that supports Africa’s mining and energy sector growth, harnessing fossil fuels for industrialization, while concurrently aligning with global climate change mitigation efforts.”

The three-day Summit will be attended by government officials from African countries, industry experts, academics and business leaders; with an agenda to deliberate on the intricacies of achieving a just transition within the mining and energy domains amongst others.