BY OJO SAMSON AYOMIDE
Dr Dele Alake, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, has emphasised the significance of technology in sanitising and repositioning the mining sector for greater productivity to attain its full potential.
A statement by Segun Tomori, Special Assistant on Media to the minister, said that Alake made this known on Monday in Abuja when he hosted Mr Uche Nnaji, the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation.
“Technology will reposition the sector to enable it contribute substantially to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Tinubu administration,” Alake said.
It further quoted Alake as saying that the solid minerals sector relies on a huge dose of technology to sanitise areas such as scientific geo-data generation, security challenges and other ancillary matters around the mining value chain.
“For instance, the security architecture that we are rejigging, we are going to inject a large measure of technology into it.
“Where else do we go outside the science, innovation and technology ministry to assist us in this regard?
“That’s why my brother Minister has come in and we are consolidating, discussing and moving the issue forward to ensure that at the end of the day, there is synergy in all our operations.
“That was part of the essence of the ministerial retreat we had last week.
“The visit is in furtherance of our collaborative efforts to ensure that the solid minerals ministry is a beneficiary of all the innovations that will be pushed out,” the minister added.
In his remarks, Nnaji affirmed the imperative of partnership to assist the solid minerals ministry to take advantage of innovations that would keep the minister abreast of activities within the mining sector.
“We have a lot of innovations in Science and Technology. We have a satellite approach to what they do in solid minerals ministry such that even on the minister’s desk here, he can see all the licenses they have issued and be able to monitor.
“It means that whenever there is an intrusion into a mining area or someone is mining illegally, he will notice.
“All of these, and even more, he will be able to decipher from his desk. That is part of the discussion we have held. We want to actually be in consonance with the Renewed Hope agenda,” Nnaji asserted.
