Index to Nigerian Newspapers

The Federal Government has set out to establish a solid minerals corporation to effectively harness the nation’s mineral resources.Minister of Solid Minerals, Mr. Dele Alake, who disclosed this at a briefing in Abuja yesterday, also spoke of plans to review all mining licenses in the country and the need to establish mines police.He said the corporation would be similar to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC Limited, NNPCL, adding that the government was ready to take the “bull by the horns” to “reap the trillion dollars worth of minerals under the ground” across the country.He said:  “Mining is big business. Nigeria must assert its presence in this environment by replicating its strategic positioning in the petroleum sector by setting up a corporate body that plays in this field.“Consequently, the ministry shall work towards the incorporation of the Nigerian Solid Minerals Corporation.“This is a corporate body that will have subsidiaries doing business in the seven priority areas that require immediate intervention and focus: gold, coal, limestone, bitumen, lead, iron-ore and baryte.“They prefer to continue to operate as illegal miners. For the last time, let me declare that the Ministry is giving such persons 30 days grace to join a miners’ co-operative or find another vocation to do.“On the expiration of the period, the full weight of the law will fall on anyone seen on a mining site without a determinable status.