A Bill for an Act to establish the solid minerals Areas Development Commission in the federal Republic of Nigeria, to address environmental devastation passed second reading at the Senate on Tuesday.
The bill seeks to provide for the accelerated development of the Nigerian solid minerals sector, in a bid to diversify the Nigerian economy and reduce the over dependence on the dwindling oil revenues.
Recall, the bill was read for the first time in the Senate on Wednesday, 5th May, 2021 and sponsored by Senator Yakubu Oseni (Kogi Central).
Leading debate on the bill, Senator Oseni observed that the country is richly endowed with a variety of solid minerals of various categories ranging from precious metals to various precious stones and industrial minerals.
He emphasised that the sector offers “a viable alternative to petroleum for foreign exchange earnings”.
Specifically, the lawmaker further revealed that “globally, the mining industry has been a close rival to the petroleum industry, while Nigeria only earns a paltry $89 million per annum from it.
“The commercial value of Nigeria’s solid minerals has been estimated to run into hundreds of billions of dollars”.
Justifying the bill, Senator Oseni argued that the bill when passed into law will provide template for formulation of policies and guidelines for the development of the mineral producing areas.
He continued: “Conception, planning and implementation in accordance with set rules and regulations, of projects and programmes for sustainable development of the minerals producing areas in the field of transportation including roads, health, employment, industrialization, agriculture among others”.
He said according the United Nations Environmental (UNEP), small-scale gold processing operations in developing countries employ one million children, stressing that children, who are more susceptible to the impacts of heavy metals, tend to have higher exposures and generally account for majority of deaths and diseases associated with mass poisoning incidents from these operations.
Meanwhile, the bill was referred to the committee on solid minerals, to report back in four weeks.
