Senate has made moves to establish a Solid Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission as a bill to that effect scaled second reading. A Bill for an Act to establish the Solid Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission in the Federal Republic of Nigeria to address the environmental devastation and for other connected matters thereto, 2021( SB. 713) is sponsored by Senator Oseni Yakubu. The bill is seeking to provide for the accelerated development of the Nigerian Solid Mineral sector so as to diversify the Nigerian Economy and reduce over dependence on the dwindling oil revenues. The President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan thereafter referred the bill to the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals chaired by Senator Umaru Al-Makura, APC, Nasarawa South to report back in four weeks.
In his lead debate on the general principles of the Bill, Senator Oseni Yakubu who noted that the bill was read for the first time in this Hallowed Chamber on Wednesday, May 5, said that the country was richly endowed with a variety of solid minerals of various categories ranging from precious metals to various precious stones and industrial minerals. He said, “The Nigerian Extractive Industries and Transparency Initiative (NEITI) reported that there are approximately 40 different kinds of solid minerals and precious metals buried in Nigerian soil waiting to be exploited. The sector offers a viable alternative to petroleum for foreign exchange earnings. Globally, the mining industry has been a close rival to the petroleum industry, while Nigeria only earns a paltry 89 million dollars per annum from it.” He further said that the objective of the bill included formulation of policies and guidelines for the development of the mineral producing areas, adding, “Implementation of all the measures approved for the development of the minerals producing areas by the Federal Government and member states of the Commission.”
According to to him, “contemplated overhead costs, recurrent and capital expenditure of the Commission when established is N158,042,050.32.” The debate on the bill was seconded by Senators Smart Adeyemi (APC-Kogi) and Sen. Gabriel Suswam. Senators in their contribution supported the Bill and approved that the Bill be read for a second time when put to voice vote by Senate President Ahmad Lawan. Lawan thereafter referred the Bill to the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals chaired by Senator Tanko Al-Makura for further legislative work and to report back to plenary in four weeks.
