Date: 2016-12-19

The Kwara State Government has called for the immediate inclusion of the state on the list of beneficiaries of the 13% derivation fund from the solid minerals as a solid minerals producing state.

The State Commissioner for Industry and Solid Minerals Development, Hajia Funmilayo Oniwa made the government position known in Ilorin at the Stakeholders Forum organised by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAC).

Hajia Oniwa who said the state has about 17 mineral resources queried the exclusion of the state among investment destination for solid minerals development by the Nigeria Mining and Metal Sector Investment Promotion in its Brochure released in August.

She explained that the state had contributed immensely to the development of the solid minerals sector as a veritable source of revenue generation into the federation account.

Hajia Oniwa noted that such a document ought to be sensitive to the mineral and investment potentials of each state in view of the Federal Government's economic diversification campaign.

The Commissioner explained that the government was making effort to restructure the mineral architecture with a view to enacting relevant laws to enhance its capacity for improved internally generated revenue that would lead to its steady growth.

In his remarks, the Federal Commissioner, Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Reverend Ajibola Fagboyegun agreed that the state is endowed with mineral resources based on the facts presented and promised that the team would visit some mining sites across the state.

Reverend Fagboyegun called on the state governments to maximise opportunities in mineral sector for the success of the Federal government campaign on diversification of the economy, particularly during the economic recession.

The Federal Commissioner advised the Kwara State Government to monitor and report the operations of miners in order to improve revenues into the federation account as well as improving the state economy.

Reverend Fagboyegun who commended the government for partnering with the investors to drive the solid minerals sector sought closer collaboration between the state and Federal governments in exploiting mineral deposits across the state.

Speaking earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Industry and Solid Minerals Development, Elder Ayobola Samuel had disclosed that it was only in July, this year that the state received over N15,729,000 from the Solid Minerals Fund which he said did not adequately represent the contributions of the state in the sector.