Senate to review all the privatised or commercialised programs on mining from 1999 till date …as it passes supplementary budget of N2.17 trillion naira

By Iyojo Ameh

The Nigerian Senate is set to review all the privatised or commercialised programs on mining from 1999 till date.

The decision was taken after consideration of the motion on the need to have a comprehensive Review of input and output of the mining Industry, by Senator Osita Ngwu representing Enugu West.

In the motion Senator Ngwu explained that the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative NEITI, Solid Mineral Industry Report, 2020 indicates that the five year trend of Solid Minerals Contribution to Gross Domestic Product from 2016 to 2020 has been inconsistent and fluctuating.

He was concerned that despite the abundant mineral endowment of the country, and huge resources so far expended by government, the contribution of the sector to job creation, infrastructure development and the GDP of the economy remains one of the lowest across the African sub-Saharan region.

The motion enjoyed unanimous support of the Senate,and it called for an investigation on the causes of the dwindling revenue from the Solid mineral sector.

Also, the Senate has approved and passed the supplementary budget of N2.17 trillion naira sequel to the consideration of the report of the committee on appropriation as presented by the Chairman senator Solomon Olamilekan.

Out of this amount, 18 billion naira is for statutory transfer , 1.33 trillion naira is for recurrent expenditure ,and over 1.12 trillion naira for contributions for development funds.