ABUJA – (Mines & Steel Development Ministry Report) – The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development in compliance with the mandate of the Economic Recovery Growth Programme (ERGP) has recently inaugurated its Ministerial Delivery Unit (MDU).
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Abdulkadir Mu’azu in a speech delivered at the inauguration described ERGP as a key economic policy of the government which every civil servant is required to familiarise with, particularly its strategic objectives. He also revealed that Nigeria has experienced many economic policies wherein the issue at stake is no longer that of policy documents, but the implementation of those policies.
“Many public servants do not believe in policies because of the challenges of implementation. People just read the document, they do not even believe it is possible, but the ERGP is different as the Government is committed to delivering its objectives,” he explained.
He further noted that the focus of ERGP in addition to having a solid policy is on delivery, stressing that since the strategy for ERGP is focused on delivery, the government has chosen what it calls priority sectors, one of which is the mining sector. He later hinted that the Ministry of Mining and Solid Minerals Development is among the few ministries that initially participated in the Focal Lab that gave birth to MDU.
According to him, what was assigned to the Ministry by the ERGP was Gold Purchasing Programme and Solid Mineral Development Fund (SMDF). He intensified that in order to demonstrate the Ministry’s commitment to ERGP, the Ministry would go beyond what was assigned to it and explore other minerals that are of economic importance to Nigeria.
“We are developing a National Gold Policy which is one of the directives we got from the Vice President and Head of the ERGP Committee and Focal Lab, Yemi Osinbajo (Prof). The other key issue we were mandated to do was to ensure that we give license for gold refinery which we have already done,” he explained.
Speaking on behalf of the other members of the MDU, Patrick Ojeka pledged the commitment of the committee to ensuring that the ranking which has been given to the Ministry prior to the setting up of the Focus Lab would be sustained.
The newly inaugurated members of the MDU are: the Director of Planning, Research and Statistics – Kingsley Ngelale; Director of Artisanal and Small Scale Mining – Patrick Ojeka and the Acting Director of Investment, Promotion & Mineral Trade – Rose Ndong. Others include: the Technical Adviser to HMS – Umar Hassan (Engr); Director of Mines Inspectorate -Karnap Wuyep and the Assistant Director of Monitoring & Evaluation – Mercy Enwere.
