The South Korean Ambassador to Nigeria, Lee In-tae, has said his country is eager to renew collaboration with the Nigeria mining sector.
The Ambassador made this known at the weekend when he paid a courtesy call on the Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Hon. Abubakar Bawa Bwari.
Ambassador In-tae revealed that South Korea was now ready to revive the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Ministry in 2004 as a result of his country’s desire to strengthen trade relations between the two countries.
He said, “I am here to find out the best way to collaborate with Nigeria in the area of mining.
“I know that there are many mineral resources in Nigeria.
“I am not an economist nor a geologist, but I have the energy to promote the relationship between Nigeria and South Korea.”
The Ambassador disclosed that there are many South Korean investors who are interested in investing in Nigeria, but this has been hampered by a dearth of geological information on the mineral types and occurrence in Nigeria.
He urged the ministry to make available to his embassy the necessary information for onward transmission to investors back in his home country.
The Minister assured him that immediate steps would be taken to supply his office with all the relevant details as the Ministry is ready to revive the previous MoU.
He said Nigeria had a lot to learn from South Korea in many aspects, especially in the area of minerals development, now that the Nigerian Government was focused on diversifying of the economy.
Bawa noted that before now, Nigeria’s major collaboration with most countries had been in the area of oil and gas.
He said, “Nigeria is known for oil and gas, while very little is known about mineral resources, but Nigeria has lot of potentials in minerals.
“We have major minerals that are needed in the world market, including Tin, Zinc, Gold, limestone and so on and we seek collaborations with countries that have relative advantage in terms of technology and capacity.”
Bawa noted that South Korea is very important in the world economy and is worth doing business with, being a country that has moved not just from a developing country to a developed country but to a major economy in the whole world.
The Minister said he believed that South Korea would need a lot of minerals from Nigeria, just as the country too could leverage on the other’s technology.
“We need to revive the MoU with your country so that we can continue from where we stopped, especially in the area of capacity building, machinery, geological data and other collaborations that will further strengthen the relationship between Nigeria and South Korea.”
Bawa called on South Korean investors to beam their light towards the Nigeria Mining Sector and reassured them of favourable terms and conducive environment.
Speaking on the 2004 MoU, the Special adviser to the Minister on Technical Matters, Olapade Davies, revealed that the Memorandum on development of mineral resources has a lifespan of five years.
Davies said the process of reviving the MoU is already in progress and would be concluded during the bi-national conference that will be organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this year.
