The Honourable Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite has disclosed that the Management of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) Kuru, and Participants of the Senior Executive Course 45, are putting together a crop of foremost practitioners and policy think-tank that will produce top-class Technocrats and Researchers with high intellectual capacity that will help navigate Nigeria to higher levels of development.
Arc. Adegbite made this known during the visit of the Study Group 1, Senior Executive Course 45, 2023 to the Ministry’s Headquarters, Abuja.
The Minister described the visit as a remarkable and auspicious one that provides the opportunity to interact with the Ministry on the theme, “Industrialization, Climate Change and Energy Security in Nigeria: Issues, Challenges and Prospects”.
Speaking further, the Honourable Minister noted that the Ministry is currently wielding a Presidential Directive to take a lead role in the diversification of the nation’s economy in the light of the challenges of the oil sector and its prospects for the future.
He also revealed that the Ministry has been categorized under the “Drive Industrialization” and mandated to develop the Minerals and Metal Sector towards contributing to the industrialization of Nigeria.
While speaking on the Ministry’s bid to achieve its mandate, the Arc. Adegbite revealed that policies have been formulated; laws and regulations have also been put in place to ensure that mitigative measures are taken against climate change challenges as well as ensuring energy security in Nigeria.
He expressed optimism that rubbing minds with the scholarly team on the area of industrialization, climate change and energy security as it relates to the Mining Sector will ensure sharing of ideas, experiences and insights that will assist in the task of restoring the lost glory of the Sector and transforming the national economy into a more prosperous one for both present and future generations.
Speaking at the occasion, the Minister of State, Mines and Steel Development, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, described NIPSS as a strong platform to brainstorm and proffer solutions to the various challenges facing the country. She called on the leadership of the country and its citizenry to avail themselves of the opportunities provided by the Institute.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Oluwatoyin Akinlade in her vote of thanks, acknowledged the visiting team for sharing their course experiences with the Ministry and wished them a successful completion of the programme and greater successes in all future endeavors
Earlier in his response, the leader of the group, Brigadier General Sylvester Oloyede mni, noted that the group has been officially assigned with the annual responsibility of conducting Researches on topical issues that affect the Social Economic Development of the country as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari. He stated it is for this purpose that the group embarked on a study tour of Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development and Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development respectively.
Highpoint of the visit was the interactive session where the Reforms in the Mining Sector, contributions of the Sector to the country’s GDP, Ministerial deliverables, Climate change and many more aspects of the Mining Sector were exhaustively discussed.
Funmi Imuetinyan (Mrs)
Head (Press &PR)
