Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State yesterday in Ilorin declared open an International conference of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society with a call on the Federal Government to allow increased participation of state governments in the solid mineral sector, especially in exploration, collection of royalties, fees, fines and taxes accruable from solid minerals for more growth.

The state governor who stressed that the participation of all states of the federation had become imperative in order to stimulate more growth, increase their Internally Generated Revenue, and create critical jobs for youths.

According to the governor, "While we have a fairly accurate estimate of the mineral resources our country is endowed with; it is believed these barely scratch the surface of the vast mineral deposits in Nigeria. We must however acknowledge that mineral exploitation is expensive and time consuming.

"Certainly, the resources required are beyond the capacity of most states in the country. I therefore call for partnership between the Federal Government, and States for a survey of the quality and quantity of solid minerals in the country in order to build a geosciences database.

"In Kwara state, we are blessed with Gold, Kaolin, Marble, Dolomite, Tourmalines, Limestone and several other solid minerals which we are focused on exploiting to form the base for industrial development in the State.

"Likewise, in order to diversify our economic base through solid minerals, this administration has put in place strategies to formalize and grow the industry. "These strategies include: enumerating and regulating operators and growing micro-and small-scale operators in the sector amongst others".

Governor Ahmed also disclosed that plans were on top gear to organize informal mining sector into cooperative societies in order to give them access to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SME) loans. This, according to the governor is to encourage small business owners in solid mineral and mining sector.

"We have also set up the Midway Minerals Development Company Limited as a special purpose vehicle to acquire mining licenses and promote investment in the sector.

"Currently, we have five mining permits covering Four Hundred and Forty-Five cadastral units for mining Tourmaline, Tantalum, Dolomite and Marble.

"Additionally, we are ready to acquire additional licenses to further exploit opportunities in the sector and by forging partnerships with private sector investors".

The governor therefore, urged the society to utilize the opportunity of the conference to come up with recommendations on how the Federal and State Governments could reposition the solid mineral sector towards profitability and suitability.

The President, Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society, Prof Gbenga Okunola had earlier in his remark said the theme of this year's conference was "Economic Diversification through Minerals Development.

Prof Okunola who stated that opportunities for investments in the solid minerals were enormous, appealed to the Federal Government to have clear strategy and appropriate strategy for each of the minerals type.