“I think Nigeria’s mining policy is one of the best policies in the world”
In this interview with Engr. Janet Adeyemi, President, Women In Mining In Nigeria (WIMIN), she speaks about the place of mining within the context of African Continental Free Trade Agreement. She also touches on other sundry issues.
What are the opportunities the Mining sector holds in Nigeria in line with the African Continental Free Trade Agreement?
Mining has always been there, but the only thing is that it is now brought to the forefront for everybody to see the realisation because of the sudden closeness of the world. The world has become so close because of the digital age we are in. What is happening in America in real time, we can witness it in Nigeria. So you can see what is happening in industries and all over. So, I think that had accelerated it. Also, COVID became a catalyst to make us see the gaps and the realities of the world we are living in. I will give you an example of when Mining suddenly became so important. People who had heart diseases during COVID needed Pazer. Suddenly, there was shortage of Pazer because you need the metals from the Mining sector. Houses could not be furnished especially if you build an apartment because there were no metals to complement the manufacture of the Air Conditioners, Television sets and others. So the gap was obvious. As a result, the world suddenly realised that mining is so important and as important as it is, it is also a destroyer. It is one of the main sources of destruction. It is a culprit when it comes to climate change. I think it contributes about 4.7 percent of the Green House Gases. So there must be a balance between mining, best practices to mine and utilization of it. So that is why the world is facing all these problems. If you look at Africa, it is an underdeveloped continent; we are the reservoir. We have a lot of mineral resources. But what do we do with our mineral resources? We just allow people to plunder it and take them away and we are just contented when we are paid for unfinished products. But the African Continental Free Trade Agreement which was signed but has not been ratified by the 55 countries is to promote trade and not necessarily mining alone. Mining just seems to be one of it. It is to promote trade and easy access to trade across the countries where you ascribe the origin, that is where the goods are coming from, who manufactured them and the acknowledging the various input and encouraging finished products to leave Africa or to be transacted, among one another. So you could have a source of origin from Nigeria for instance and the finished product is coming out from Mauritania and you would find out that everybody has an input around it. You now look at the issue of the various tariffs and how eventually it gets to the market. So these are the issues. But coming to the sector, the mining sector is an interesting sector. You have mineral resources all across Africa but in what quantity and in what types? We don’t all have the same things. Like here in Nigeria, we are so endowed with Gem stones. Till date, Ghana cannot boast of having Gem stones like we have but they have Gold. So that tells you what we call conjunctive development of ideas where you have one thing and I also have one thing then we can complement and develop. When we develop or build up that thing, we can utilise it and that takes us easily to energy. In energy, we found out that the various sources of energy are equally pollutants creating the Green house gas emissions and things like that. So people are looking at alternative sources of energy, but this main sources of energy will demand a lot from African countries to work together. That is what our discussion was about two weeks ago at Adis Ababa where we converged to look at what advantages and how we can shift to the energy space, and also what roles to ascribe to one another to be able to do these things effectively. So it is a huge sector with so many things to be done. For instance, on the 4th and 5th of November we would be showcasing an aspect of it and that aspect is value addition where we need not to import these women jewelries from China. We have precious stones; we have Quasar you can cut and there are people who are cutting and polishing. We have people who make the chain. There’s selection process which we can be able to do beautiful things and other things like that. So we don’t need to import. We want to focus attention on women jewelries. Even if it is just making the Jewelries we have and conceiving them within, it will change our fortune and our lifestyle. We also have industrial minerals. We have Barite in the country. You cannot drill with Barite in the Oil and Gas sector. We have Vesper, and Gypsum which are used in Cement industries. There are so many things we have that we can utilise. We have Led Zinc mineralisation where we have Gold and so many other things in the country. What we just have to do is to pick up Nigerian map and look out for the minerals distribution. There’s hardly any local government that doesn’t have. Some might not be in commercial quantity while some are. So it is very important for the government to pay attention to these things. Let’s avoid the errors that we made in the oil and gas sector and make sure that the mineral resources we have, we create a value chain around them, and when we create a value chain around them, we create a market. You have a population of about 200 million and about 60 percent of that population or more are youths. So they have the energy and what it takes. What we need to do is to build the capacity, redirect them and create the enabling environment. Let there be energy and technology. Skill them up by letting them have access to the right skills. Let the government support the institutions coming up and you will be amazed by what we would do with our mineral resources. If these mineral resources are consumed within, then we would have money. Then we can now diversify. We should have mineral development and start building out aspects of the economy. Countries like Finland started with mining and they are the major manufacturers of all these compressors and other things like that. Then they moved into log business. We should start diversifying. One thing about mining is that once you take the mineral off, it is off forever. So you must utilise the resources of mining very well. It is not something you can say you will use today and another one is coming tomorrow. We need to be very strategic in the ultilisation of our mineral resources.
We know the private sector plays a key role in developing anything. In Nigeria, how would you describe the policy frame work wherein mining is still under the exclusive list?
I think Nigeria policy is one of the best policies in the world. We used to have a moribund policy, but in 2007 a new Mining law came into existence and then in 2011, the Mining policy came up where it was pronounced that the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel becomes an administrator and regulatory agency. So they are not implementing and I am sure all the mining industries owned by government were privatised such as the Nigerian Mining Corporation and other agencies like that. It might not be perfect but it is already done. Our perception index used to be very poor, but today we are competitive. If you look at our tax incentives, we are doing very good. But beyond that, there are some areas that are lacking. If you look at our laws, our laws are gender-blind. The sustainability component was not addressed but it is not their fault. It is just because of the dynamic nature of the sector. The sector keeps revolving. Today in the Western world, you cannot go into mining without having your ESG profile. The ESG profile is to show that you are certified and you would not even find a bond or anybody to give you money because mining is capital intensive. It is not something you can develop on your own. Nobody or international body will give you any loan because they will need to access your ESG component. They also want to look at your sustainability, that is the local communities where you are taking the goods from and looking at, if there is any responsible tracing and tracking. In those days, they take rubber from Cross River state and take Cocoa from Ondo state. The people that are planting those things are so wretched and there is this popular programme by Richard Quest when he went to Ivory coast to showcase where Chocolates are coming from; showing that the people planting Cocoa are so poor. There was an outcry and if you go to that community today, you would find a difference. Sustainability is very important. These people are equally thriving. As you are exploring, you are taking things out of them and they are making money from it. If you say this diamond is from so and so, you must be able to track where it came from. Is it as a result of war and so on? So you will need to get all those fact and details right. You also look at good governance. There is continuous amendment in our laws which have been forwarded to the National Assembly to look into. So I believe that in terms of that, we are ready. The only thing I see mitigating against Nigeria is the Capital. Mining is extremely capital intensive. Then we don’t have sufficient data and I think the government is addressing that. No one is generating data for the mining sector. They just get an overview. They are supposed to get in-depth data beyond what we have. We need to have some geological data; during the colonial era that was built up with time. But now, the government have gone extensively to generate some more data. By the time the throw this data in the open space for people to access, investors will come, buy the data and they go for deeper exploration within their coverage to really know their investment. This is because if they are going to invest billions of dollars in a thing, they must as well get a clear perspective towards it. So I wouldn’t write off our laws; that our laws are not good or our policies are not right. Our government is doing so well in sensitising and directing the world. We also have NGOs. We have met with some of them who are classy women that are successful to be able to go into mining business. We were able to market the mining investment to them especially the gains in the industry.
The challenge of funding and single digit interest is peculiar to almost every sector in the country. Do you think women gender partnership will help?
When I talk about gender, I always want to make clarity. We cannot live in an exclusive world. We need the two. When we bring out gender, we are just saying “wait a minute, we are here, include us to be your partners”, and not that that they isolate themselves. This is because if you isolate yourself you would not get anywhere. We need both knowledge. We all have our strengths. There is need for collaboration. I don’t believe in isolation. My own understanding of gender is that they recognise both sexes. As regards sourcing for funds, I feel women should just step up and build up their capacity, understand the dynamics, form ventures, go into partnership with men, understand what it takes and you’re good. So it goes beyond you wanting to think you can do it all alone. Also our banking sector needs overhauling. Our banking sector does not know beyond giving short term loans. They don’t know how to take risks. So they need to expand the banking risks by bringing in professionals or engage consultants who can really break down the system and understand the risk that are involved. This is because without the support from the banking sector, you cannot get loan. Even if you get international investors, you still need your local bank to be part of the deal. It is very important for banks to have an understanding of this sector.
What role do you see women playing in politics?
Politics in Nigeria can be very interesting. I encourage women who have the stamina and the time to be there. This is because if you are not at the table, you don’t get much. But unfortunately, I even see that when most women get there; to National Assembly, it is like they disconnect from their fellow women which is not often very good. When you disconnect from them it would not be good. When I left National Assembly it occurred to me based on my experiences that the time is not even there for you to source information. In my own time, I was lucky. IRS gave me a sponsorship to go to the US Congress based on my performance in the House to understudy the US democratic system with their legislators. I started what we called female parliamentary caucus but within these caucus most people that are serving were not active. You will have to call and force them. For example, if there’s a bill at the National Assembly, you will want to be able to conduct an opinion poll, give them the concept about the Bill and the contents to discuss. But when they are not even relating with you, how do you do that? They are only interested in greeting you Happy Birthday, ‘aso ebi’ and all of that. For me, I got discouraged but I think we need more of that. Women need to set up structures to be able to help those in government articulate. I think when women get there, they feel they have joined the ‘boys’ club’. So to now start identifying with the girls’ club may seems difficult because they feel people will see it as a sign of weakness but I see it as a sign of strength because if you advance a gender issue, it is not because you are the one marginalised but because you are a success and confident about it. This is because there’s always a need to generate a generational pipeline. Some people paid the price for you to get to where we are today. We should also pay the price so that our children will no longer be begging. It becomes automatic for them. But I can tell you the pipeline is still very constricted which shouldn’t be. Where else can we solve this if not at the National Assembly. So I encourage women who have the capacity and money to engage one another. Women in offices should try as much as possible to include women based or owned institutions to be part of their programmes and contracts. When sisters start keeping sisters’ interest then we will succeed.
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