As Nigeria grapples with economic challenges and seeks to diversify its revenue mainstay, the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate for Kano Central senatorial seat in the 2023 general elections, Abdulsalam Abdulkarim Zaura, popularly known as AA Zaura, has described the solid mineral sector as the ‘new alternative to crude oil for economic growth.
The multi-dimensional business mogul and philanthropist, who stated this in a chat with newsmen on Monday in Abuja, said if the Federal Government was serious in saving Nigeria from its present economic woes, the solid mineral was a robust alternative that should be explored.
Zaura , with versed business experience in different sectors, including Renewable Energy, Oil,and Gas, Real Estate Finance and Development, said:“I started with solid minerals, I can tell you that far back in the year 2003/2004, we do mining and the mining we did was not gold mining, we are into tantalite and tourmaline mining.
”The only problem we have in Nigeria is that, we fail or we refuse to understand that we have a lot of resources and not only oil. Because oil has been our main source of income, we tend not to focus or to give our attention or the government tends not to give attention to these solid mineral resources.
“We are solely dependent on oil, and there are lots of resources that will equally give us a large some of income if we diversify and the solid minerals sector is the new oil that can generate revenue for the country.
“For instance if you take gold, how much is a gramme of gold? You can ever compare a gramme of gold to a barrel of oil. The gold is definitely higher which means if we can shift our focus to mineral to resources.”
He added: “We need to focus on the mineral deposits which we have in Zamfara, Niger and other states where we have a large deposit of gold, that means we will create more income and revenue for the country.”
The Kano-born politician stressed that insecurity has to be addressed headlong if the nation wants to benefit for the sector, adding that “I can categorically tell you that t what brought insecurity in those areas has to do with politics.”
According to him, the Federal Government must also demonstrate strong political will to address the menace of illegal mining which has stopped the sector from contributing meaningfully to the nation’s revenue.
“These are areas that are full of potentials, let me tell you, in those days, you can go in there and mine, even if you are alone, nobody will attack you, nobody will come for you.
“I could recall it was during the time of Sani Yerima, we use to be in Zamfara and nobody will tell you anything; as time went, people started seeing that people are coming from outside, more resources are been discovered , people are exploiting them, then this issue of insecurity surfaced there simply to scare people away from there.
“The way to address insecurity is in the hands of government; the resources lying there belongs to the government, it does not belong to individuals, government needs to derive revenue from those resources.
“If government is to derive revenue from those resources, it has to take security seriously in order to protect the people and their investments, and to attract more investors to come into mining, these are simple logics,” he said.
Zaura advised government to provide enabling environment to attract investors to communities solid mineral are explored.
He however lauded the President Bola Tinubu-Led Federal Government for showing commitment towards revamping the sector in line with its campaign promises.
“I can see that the current administration of President Bola Tinubu is giving more attention to the area of mineral resources and he is giving support to the Ministry of Solid Minerals.
“I think something positive or something big is coming to the area of mining and to the Ministry of Solid Minerals. If government will focus on that, I can tell you that the opportunities and revenue it will bring will be amazing,” he said.
