Bank of Industry: Solid Minerals Sector Gets 24bn Naira Boost

The Bank of Industry in Nigeria says it has disbursed a loan of 24 billion Naira to entrepreneurs in the solid minerals sector.

At a meeting between the bank’s officials and experts in the solid minerals sector held in Abuja on Wednesday, the Managing Director of the BOI, Mr Rasheed Olaoluwa, said the gesture was part of a plan to improve the sector’s contribution to the nation’s economy.

Mr Olaoluwa said that if well harnessed, the resources in the sector would create jobs and reduce poverty.

The meeting was part of the activities of a conference centred on how to make the over 44 solid minerals found in various locations in Nigeria contribute to the nation’s development.

The Managing Director of the Bank of Industry pledged the bank’s commitment to assisting the entrepreneurs in the sector access loans, which he said would boost their businesses and create jobs for other Nigerians.

Although statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics puts the solid mineral sector’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product at zero point zero per cent between 2010 and 2012 and also created only one point three million jobs within the period, experts described this as unacceptable but they are hopeful that it could be reversed.

Another issue raised at the meeting by the President of the Miners Association of Nigeria, Sani Shehu, was the high interest rate charged by commercial banks on loans given to entrepreneurs in the solid minerals sector.

While challenges of infrastructure, lack of political will and insecurity are obstacles to the development of the sector, the consensus at the meeting was that all of the challenges were surmountable. The participants believed that it was a time to move the nation beyond oil.