The federal government has expressed concern over the significant decline in the contribution of the mining sector to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which fell from about 5.6 per cent it used to be 42 years ago to the current 0.33 per cent.
Speaking at a workshop titled: “Improving Fiscal Transparency in Nigeria’s Mining Sector,” in Abuja, Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr Olamilekan Adegbite, stated that the government was doing everything to diversify the economy.
According to him, by so doing, the government aspires to capture economic linkages, create jobs and increase revenues. “Unfortunately, in Nigeria, despite the country’s resource potential and its past experience as a significant mineral producer of tin, columbite, and coal, the sector today has one of the lowest outputs in the Nigerian economy.
“The mining sector’s contribution to GDP had steadily declined from 5.6 per cent in 1980 to about 0.33 per cent, which is significantly lower than other mineral rich countries in the region,” he noted.
