By Abiemwense Moru
Abuja – A member of the House of Representatives, Rep. Emmanuel Egwu (APC-Kogi) has called for proper coordination of the country’ s solid minerals to generate more revenue for its economy.
Making the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja, Egwu said that coordination in the mining sector was necessary to make it viable.
He said that Bills on the management and coordination of solid minerals were being processed in both chambers of the National Assembly.
Egwu assured that the bills would be considered and proper action would be taken.
“If our mining sector is viable, our dependence on oil will not be as it is today because we give a lot of value to oil.
“When there is fall in oil or wreck in production of oil we suffer because the price and volume goes together.
“Even when the price is high and we cannot produce enough it is still a problem, like the havoc we have in the Niger Delta today.
“If the price of oil goes as high as 100 dollars today because we cannot optimally produce the quantity that is expected of us. You know definitely we cannot optimise.”
He further said that the call for diversification was necessary as it could improve the value of the country’s economy.
According to him, we should diversify to areas that would be of immense benefits to the country and as urgent as possible that will change the value and improve the value of the country.
Egwu also called for possible engagement of an agency that would coordinate all the mineral resources in Nigeria.
“I think there is need for solid minerals sector that is well coordinated. Probably an agency that will coordinate all the mineral resources that we have on ground,” he said.