N5bn Mining Support Fund: We’ll Assist BoI Identify Genuine Miners – MAN
Following the recent launch of a N5 billion Support Fund for Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners, ASM, the Miners Association of Nigeria, MAN, said it will assist the custodian of the Fund, Bank of Industry, BoI, to identify genuine miners that would access the Fund.
This was stated by the National President, MAN, Shehu Sani, while expressing appreciation to the Federal Government over the intervention fund for miners and described it as historical.
He stated: “The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, deserves our commendation to make this happen. We all agree that one of the factors that impede ASM is funding.
As we are aware government has the responsibility of funding to spearhead activities within the ASM section of the mining industry and on this note give kudos to the Minister and his management team.
“The task of forming them into cooperatives lies with the Department of Artisanal and Small Scale Miners of the Ministry and the Miners Association of Nigeria, MAN. I therefore appeal that the BoI to carry along the stakeholders in drawing the modalities to be to allow popular participation with the aim of meeting government objectives of assisting this category of miners.
“We will identify those who are our members with our list, and the list for those who have sites and working and we have list of those who have sites but not working together with different data domiciled in our office.
“If BoI gives us the opportunity we can work together with them to assist in showing them who are really operational miners and then they can go to the sites. We are ready to collaborate with BoI with the data we have to make the intervention fund succeed.”
He however, appealed to the Bank to consider flexible conditions for ASM to access the fund that would enable them carry out their operations without hitches.
“However, we will like to appeal to the Bank of Industry to appreciate the fact that the target people are peculiar people and the mining sector is a peculiar sector. There is need for the BoI to develop flexible modalities for the ASM members to be able to access the loan facilities.
“I said this because most of the ASM operators have their mining leases as major collateral and of course the mineral resource there can be verified, and for the artisanal mining components of the target people who are so down that you cannot conveniently support them till the existing cooperative societies are formed into clusters and the artisanal miners who are not in cooperatives are formed into cooperatives.”