A professional pressure group, Women in Mining, has said that practitioners, especially women and younger Nigerians, have made the mining sector more attractive.
President of the group, Hon. Janet Adeyemi, explained that there were more women and younger Nigerians showing interest in mining because of the various policies being put in place by stakeholders in the industry.
She lauded the Federal Government for setting up the Integrated Automated and Interactive Solid Minerals Portal, as it is expected to accelerate growth in the sector.
“The increasing involvement of women, young Nigerians and the introduction of the IAISMP have opened up the country’s mining sector, for investment, proper monitoring, professionalism and accountability, which are critical to sustainable growth,”
she said.
Adeyemi added that women and children were usually the major victims of illegal and uncoordinated mining activities, adding that the operations of licensed mining operators as well as nefarious activities of illegal miners could now be tracked through the
portal.
She said, “Through the web portal, we now know all the licensed miners and where each is operating, so tracking them becomes easy. It will also be easy to determine those who are into illegal mining. We can track you if you are not doing your social corporate responsibility, and you can be reported through the feedback section.
“The beauty of it is that you can sit down in the corner of your room in any part of the world and have relevant information on Nigeria’s mining jurisdiction and you can, from there, make payment for your licences.
I think, for once, we are having the right synergy. We have had too much talk without work, now the government is marching the talk with work.”
