Protocols

 

Your Excellencies, Honourable Ministers, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, on behalf of the leadership and staff of the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, I am most delighted to welcome you to Abuja, Nigeria, and to thank you for honouring us with your presence at this conference.

 

The African Mining Vision (AMV) was adopted in February, 2009, during the African Union (AU) Summit. This was in furtherance of the October, 2008 meeting of African ministers responsible for mineral resources development. The AMV is by far one of the most promising instruments that unite the whole of Africa towards achieving particular objectives. "It is Africa's own response to tackling the paradox of great mineral wealth existing side by side with pervasive poverty, through building economic and social linkages that benefits Africa."

 

For us in Nigeria, in view of present realities, we have found our bearing from the AMV, and domesticated its provisions in our "Roadmap for the Development of the Nigerian Mining Sector". Accordingly, one of the priority goals of our government is to position our Mining sector to play a greater role in sustainably diversifying our country's revenue base, creating jobs, and fast-tracking industrialisation. This is not a tall order, as we are evidently endowed with an abundance of mineral resources. We however realise that we cannot go very far with our agenda if we do not feature strongly in the reckoning of the international mining community as a serious mining destination. We are thus enlisting critical stakeholders domestically and globally as enablers of our vision, while providing the conditions for the creation of shared value for all stakeholders and participants in our jurisdiction.

 

Similarly, most countries in the West-African sub-region have since developed country-level strategies, and we have reports of the achievements that are already being recorded under the stewardship of my ministerial counterparts. The AMV prescribes integrating mining into industrial and trade policy at regional level, and encouraging collaboration and healthy competition amongst countries. We therefore consider it important to have a platform for bringing stakeholders in the sub-region together, to share ideas and compare notes on how to collaborate in making our resources work for our people. Asides sharing similar geological formations, we have similar aspirations and face comparable challenges, which make it imperative for us to work together.

 

This is why our ministry has partnered with Afrocet Montgomery, working with Deloitte, to host CONMIN West Africa, in demonstration of our commitment to signalling the renaissance of our mining sector, and to naturally take the lead in driving the achievement of the objectives of the AMV, collectively and at country level. It is our vision to use this annual conference as a platform to place Nigeria prominently in the international mining calendar, and beneficially attract greater attention to our country and sub-region.

 

I must thank His Excellency the Acting President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, G.C.O.N., S.A.N., for honouring us with his presence, and to all my counterparts from other West African countries for supporting this vision. I also thank my brother ministers from other African countries for joining us in solidarity, to share their success stories with us. My gratitude also goes to the ECOWAS Commission, governments, organisations and individuals that have supported us in one way or the other in making this conference a reality. I am convinced without a doubt, that working hand-in-hand, in true Pan-African spirit, together we can achieve much more than the sum of our individual efforts.

 

I wish us all a productive conference.

 

Dr. Kayode Fayemi, CON

Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Federal Republic of Nigeria