₦airaland Forum

Are the proceeds from this venture going to be shared with the rest of the country like petroleum products.


This gave the governor the conviction that if this sector is properly harnessed to its fullest, the state may, in the long run, be tagged as one of the richest in the federation. As the governor rightly put it in a recent interview with the journalists, “Zamfara in no distant time, will also be enjoying 13 per cent derivation fund because of its minerals deposits potential.”


You can see from the text above that the state will be entiltle to 13% derivative, that is the fed govt will take all the returns and 13% of any money made will be remmited back to Zamfara state. I would not be susprised if the fed govt is sponsoring this project it was never mentioned anywhere in the interview that the feds are involved by the governor.

In a recent interview with newsmen in Gusau, the Governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi, gave a graphic account of the poor nature of the state’s finance. He disclosed that presently, “our statutory allocation has dropped. For instance, we used to collect something in the region of N2 billion to N3billion from the Federation Account but because of the present economic meltdown, we are receiving between N1.4 billion to N1.5 billion. This is a very serious issue. How much do we pay as salaries to our workers? Sometimes, we paid N1.2 billion or N1.3 billion. You can see we are left with only N200 million or N300 million to cater for the running of government, like paying contractors, feeding students, executing capital projects, etc. You will agree with me that this is grossly inadequate. We are afraid that if we continue like that, business activities may come to a halt.”

It was as a result of this that the Zamfara State government decided to harness its minerals deposits and turn them into a profitable venture.

Thus, the concept of an integrated minerals processing plant was conceived. This project is the first of its kind in the country. The processing plant, which is expected to commence production in September 2009, is expected to refine minerals like gold, iron ore, and bauxite, etc.

A recent survey conducted by a Chinese firm reported that the abundant minerals deposits located in some local government areas like Maru, Maradun, Anka, Shinkafi and Zurmi could last for over 100 years.

This gave the governor the conviction that if this sector is properly harnessed to its fullest, the state may, in the long run, be tagged as one of the richest in the federation. As the governor rightly put it in a recent interview with the journalists, “Zamfara in no distant time, will also be enjoying 13 per cent derivation fund because of its minerals deposits potential.”

In an elaborate ceremony that took place in Kuraje village, on Monday 8 June, 2009, the President and Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua, who was represented by the Minister for Special Duties, Ambassador Ibrahim Musa Kazaure, performed the foundation stone laying ceremony of the proposed multibillion naira processing plant.

Earlier, the state governor told the president that, “solid minerals represent one of the most viable options for the diversification of our economy from its present status of heavy dependence on oil.”

According to the governor, “with the abundant solid minerals deposits in our state, we are naturally positioned to take a commanding lead in the Mining sector.” Shedding more light on the processing plant, the governor added that the project was a joint venture under the public-private partnership between the state government and a Chinese firm, China Star Group of Company Limited. Under the agreement, the governor revealed that, the state government had 45 per cent shares, while the Chinese firm had 55 per cent shares.

The governor revealed further that the total cost of the project stood at $100million and it would be divided into two phases. Under Phase 1, “we have the construction of an Integrated Solid Minerals Processing factory at the cost of $40 million. It would process iron ore, copper, tin, tantalite, gold, wolfromite, and all metallic minerals known to exist in Zamfara State.”

The governor went further to state that “it is from this stage that the company will export raw ore to world markets, especially to China, where we already have confirmed orders for all our products.”

He disclosed that under the Phase II, a steel smelter and rolling mill would be constructed. The project, when completed, would have the capacity to produce 300,000 tonnes per annum. The construction will start in October 2009 and be completed in April 2011.

According to him, the billets to be produced by the steel mill would be sold to the existing mills, especially Katsina Steel Rolling Mill, because of its proximity to the state.

“At present, we are aware that these billets are currently being imported from China and Eastern Europe at a very high price,” the governor added.

Responding, the president remarked that the Federal Government was determined to support the laudable project embarked on by the Zamfara State government.

The president also urged other states endowed with solid minerals to emulate Zamfara State by that they exploring and exploiting the mining sector to the maximum.

The president concluded that he was optimistic that when completed, both the Minerals Processing Plant and the Steel Rolling Mill would provide other primary markets both within the country and the African continent.”

Laudable as the projects seems, there are two great obstacles to the realisation, which the governor highlighted in his concluding speech. He appealed to President Yar’Adua to “kindly resuscitate the existing railway line and at the same time, extend it to Maru to facilitate the movement of raw materials and finished products to other parts of the country.

Secondly, the governor appealed to the president to intervene in the release of licence for the State Independent Hydro Power Plant at Gotawa village.

Indeed, these two factors pose a serious challenge to the actualisation of the noble project. Would this affect the 2000 youths of Zamfara State that are expected to be employed when the plant commences production? Well, only time will tell.




Those Govenors in the south-south should count themselves lucky with the kind of money they get from the federation account. They should spend that money wisely. With the little that Zamfara state gets if they can pull such a laudable project I dont see why all those south-south states cannot change the lives of its citizens instantly and Nigeria at large. I was not too impress reading about Governor Rotimi Amechi recent rendevous to Ghana culminating with him investing N500 billion of state resources in another country. Is it a case of he who has a hat but unfortunaely has no head to put the hat on or who has a head but has not got a hat. It looks like Amechi has a head but to buy a befitting hat that will fit his his head is his own undoing if this story were to be true.

Whoever says state creation will not bring development to the area are talking from their arse. This particular area was a bush 10 - 15 years ago.

like i said, this thread is useless, u soon realise that

The thread is useless becos u are not intelligent enough to grasp the dynamics of Nigeria politics,  so den force u to make comment I beg shut up !!" You dont see me commenting on every thread.

uuummm,  ok,  would that be the same reason why Fashola would not want to go for a second term?

I am not a fashola apologist,  he too is cleaning up nicely, him and his oga tinubu, u think he does not have a stake at that firm that collects internal generated revenue for lagos state. At the same token he wants to imprint his name as one of the most successful governor of the state.

No wonder the guy does not what to do a second term. When you are worth more than $1 billion dollars whats the point hanging on to state goverment job.

yeaaaaaaaaa

like the america serial killers ?? ehuhh

mennhhhh people people people


We are talking of politicians that are introvert and not the general public, and I can confidently say the world has not had a serial killer political leader. The thing is your missing the point of this thread. Yaradua started as a gentleman with the rule of law been the cornestone of his belief. Of course with time he came to realise that the rule of law cannot be allowed to reign supreme after the loss of Edo state , then Ondo state,  he had to act fast and be decisive as with the case of Ekiti. If the aformentioned trend was allowed to continue  PDP will find themselves confined to the north west corner of Nigeria  and it will mean the 8 years of OBJ's wheeling and dealing has been destroyed a destruction that might even consume yarardua himself.

funi when people keep sayin yarafool is a gentin wetin

Even a blind man can see that Yardua is a gentleman. You will need to go and read El-Rufai's memoirs to convince yourself. The older yardua Shehu was the extrovert but Umaru Yardua has alway been introvert and most introverts are shy, calculative and calm. It will be highly inconceivable to associate most if not all introverts with an un-gentlemanly mannerism and conduct.

useless thread!!

funi when people keep sayin yarafool is a gentin wetin

how do u know that

from the newspaper abi

abeg stop all these yeye thread

The problem with people like you is you go to Nigeria newspaper web sites cut and paste a breaking story and expect people to make comments. I write on political events as it unfolds before your very eyes. The only reason Yardua chose Goodluck was because he is from the heart of delta region. The ground zero of militancy activities, even a blind man can see it was a wrong choice and a huge mis-calculation which can be rectified come 2011. You cannot lay all blame on yardua it takes two to tango. He has sorted out his economic team by choosing guys from Kano /Katsina, Goodluck was suppose to sort out the militancy problem he inherited but has failed miserably. If he sticks with Goodluck come 2011 he will be a sitting duck. This thread will give the political elites something to think about than threads that are basically reporting the headlines of our newspapers.

Akala has done

1. N

2. O

3. T

4. H

5. I

6. N

7. G

men this guy has done 7 things already, thumbs up to Akala

@poster

Getting the gist is what matters and we get your gist

Back to the theme of the thread, the thing is Nigeria is the wild, wild, west anything and everything goes. There is a tendency that if you live abroad for too long like most Nigerians in disapora the ways, manner, social and professional ethics of the host county impacts on your being. I will give you 2 examples.

1. Got to my mum house in Ibadan to stay with her for 10 days and sort out a few things in the house that was falling apart due to lack maintenance . There is a well behind the back of the house, so I suggested to my mum why dont we just buy a powerful pump to pump water into the tanks so running water will be in the house. She said that is a fantastic idea. I asked my  brother to find me a good plumber that knows his job, he got me this gentleman, I asked the guy, what do you need. He said he will have to buy a few pipes and the machine, and by the evening everything will be working. The machine cost about N45,000.00 at the time, the pipes about N15,000.0 and the guy got N10,000.00. If a pound changes for 250 to 1 that will be £300.00 in sterling. Anyways I went to lagos to do some runnings and on the eve of me flying back to london I went back to Ibadan to inspect the job done. To my susprise noting was working, the guy said the pumps was not strong enough to pump the water but he chose the pump, meanwhile he has already connected all the pipes to the pump and becos he has worked all day he wants his money. I said I cannot imagine spending £300.00 on my house in london and nothing will be done. I just concluded that day that I can see why this country is f**ked. Most artisans plumbers, mechanic, electrician are only doing tryer and error. I said if me an individual can throw £300 .00 down the drain,  u can imagine what the various goverments go through. So NL dont blame the govt all the time rather blame the people who collect money to do a job but now renegade.

2. Was dis-qualified for drink driving in london twice so basically I am very conscious of my alcohol intake now. 2 yaers ago I went to Naija on holiday, went to a joint to knock a few bottles. I took about 3 big guiness, I totally forgot that I was driving myself, but suddenly it occured to me that omo na Naija you dey, this is a jungle, there is no law in this place even policeman will help you open the doors to your car and even salute you on top of it.  What I am trying to highlight out here is most diasporas will have that initial fear and respect of authority which is something they are used to here,  but because Naija is so dis-organise that initial fear will disappear in no time as soon as your feet hit the ground in  Naija. Each time I go to Naija people in the uk will say take it easy over there becos of armed robbers, but when my feet hit the ground and I go out 3 times in the middle of the night and nothing happens there is the tendency I will and most people would throw caution into the winds.

Conclusion - People abroad I will say respect authority but it kind of dis-orientate their mind set when they are in Naija where ther is no fear or respect of authority.

Hey,it has nt come to that.
The word of God says,"The battle is mine"
The best we can do is cry out and perhaps protest the Iranian way,
no need to wish him death plss


Nobody is wishing him bad, is he not going to service the plane in Naija or is he going to take it to America or south africa to service, those Naija mechanics they will just forget to tighting a bolt well and b4 you say jacky stone na double wahala for dead body and the owner of dead body.

you're missing something, the thing is coming south after yaradua-according to 'their' calculation
so by being governor he'd have experience of actually managing a state like yardua -so two major in-country experience plus intl bits
remember yaradua was not on teh national scene infact he was unknown (to most southerners anyway)
another angle is that yardy will be looking to appoint a better successor than himself so he gets a brownie point like tinubu


But who told you Soludo will win in Anambra state, anyway we all wish him the best. If he does not win Anambra state, his short live career as a politician will come to an inglorious end. That will mean the end of any presidential dreams that he might harbour, no president in the annals of Nigerian politics has ever won without delivering their respective state, that is one of the key pre-requisite of the Job.

Let the fulish lawbreaker tell us his source of income that he is able to acquire an aircraft.


What kind of question is that, don’t you know to be a law maker in Nigeria you have hit jack-pot, House of Reps N35 million every quarter and Senator N45 million. This gentleman has been in the House for 6 years now and you asking where he got the money from. I bet you can work the maths of how much he has accrued over the last 6 years considering his outgoings will be next to nothing in Birnin-Kebbi.