President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday said about 44 new mineral deposit have been uncovered in 800 locations across the country, in addition to the over 50 billion barrels of oil reserves.
Jonathan also disclosed that efforts were being made to generate power from coal in line with its transformation agenda.
The president stated this at the 50th Annual International Conference and Exhibitions of Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS) in Benin City, the Edo state capital.
He said the implementation of road map for the development of solid mineral sector in 2012 has no doubt led to increased sustained flow of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in exploration and extraction of minerals- which included coal, gold, iron and ore.
Jonathan, who was represented by the Minister of Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc Musa Mohammed Sada, said: “We are full of optimism that not only will more mineral types and new locations be discovered, the exploration and exploitation of these valuable endowment will lead to employment generation and increased contributions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“It’s on record that the contribution of the extractive sector to the Nigerian economy surpasses the contribution of any other sector in view of the fact that the Petroleum sub-sector alone contributes over 90 percent of the nation’s export earnings –raging from job creation, infrastructural development to mention a few.”
Meanwhile, NMGS in a communiqué to commemorate the golden jubilee celebration flayed the delay in the passage of Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), stating that it was a major setback to the realisation of the vision of vibrant oil and gas industry.
