Partner & Head, Energy & Natural Resources, Tax, Regulatory & People Services, KPMG, Ayo Salami, has said the mining sector has the capacity to contribute 8 per cent Gross Domestic Product to the nation’s economy on annual basis, adding Nigerian counterparts such as Ghana, South Africa, and get more in Zambia, with 12 per cent.
According to Salami in terms of the dominance of minerals and mineral deposits, Nigeria ranks number 22, with values of minerals about 1.12 trillion, over a billion US dollars adding Algeria and South Africa are just above Nigeria on the list with 19th and 11th positions respectively. He explained eight years ago, when the roadmap was put together by the ministry, the contribution was less than 0.3 per cent, so over a period of six, seven years, it sort of doubled, even though it’s still risky. According to him, the country should be doing in the ranges of 8 per cent adding this is not where we want to be as a country and therefore should take something serious going forward.Meanwhile, the group had launched what it called the mining brief.
He said the information is available free of charge, and secondly, it’s like an eye-opener for those investors regarding matters that they probably are not aware of before they make an investment in Nigeria and the matters that ordinarily their lawyers, their accountants would have to tell them at a fee, they get them for free through the mining brief, he added.