The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Kayode Fayemi, has revealed that the plan of the present government to boost the mining sector was yielding the required result, as the mining and steel sector contributed a huge sum of N3.5 billion to the Federation Account in 2017.
Fayemi made this known on Thursday in Abuja during the end-of -year ministerial briefing on the activities and achievements that the ministry recorded in 2017.
According to him, the sector remained a critical factor in the implementation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (2017-2020), assuring that the minerals and metals sector would be one of the sectors that would boost Nigeria’s recovery.
He added that contribution of mining sector to GDP was N103 billion in 2015 and would increase to N141 billion in 2020, at an average annual growth rate of 8.54 percent.
He said, “In 2017, the ministry featured in the story of our journey to economic recovery and consolidation; the GDP figures for second quarter 2017, from the National Bureau of Statistics indicated that the economy grew by 0.55 percent.
“The improved performance was not only the oil and gas sector but other economic activities like mining. The sector grew by 2.24 percent in that quarter,” he said.
