Percy Onyeka
As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to commemorate 2024 International Women’s Day, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, Friday, assured women miners of not leaving them behind in the solid minerals industry but to give them all the support they need.
Alake who doubles also as the Chairman of the African Minerals Strategy Group, AMSG, gave the assurance in a goodwill message via webinar during the International Women’s Day Forum 2024 organised by the Women Miners Association.
He also commended the organizers for putting together what he described as the progress and plight of women in the mining sector on the front-burner, therefore he pointed out the importance of investing in the development of women for leadership in industry and governance.
He said: “We live in a world in which no one, no gender must be left behind. This is the logic of progressive transformation that we desire.
“The African Minerals Strategy Group is committed to empowering women with appropriate skills to enable them participate in the mining sector value chain, from exploration and extraction to processing and commerce.
“We support access to technical training in mining for our young women: we support start-up financial assistance for women mining entrepreneurs, and we champion the inclusion of women in the leadership of regulatory agencies.”
According to him, the AMSG under his leadership will initiate annual studies on the progress Africa is making in the aforementioned areas and publish findings on subsequent International Women’s Day.
Therefore, he disclosed that the AMSG remains resolute in its decision on value addition to solid minerals mined in the Continent as a strategy for wealth retention, and also that African Ministers of Mining are determined to put in place policies which discourage export of raw materials and encourage industrial processing of minerals into semi-finished goods for exports.
“This will reduce the obnoxious legacy of unequal exchange, which African scholars see as the manifestation of neo-colonialism. Let us elevate the quality of commerce with our trading partners by offering more value. The faithful execution of this policy will provide more jobs and deepen capital formation in the mining industry “, he added.
Meanwhile, it will be recalled that on the sidelines of the ‘Invest in African Mining Indaba’ in South-africa, Alake was unanimously elected as the Chairman of the African Minerals Strategy Group, AMSG, which is a body of African Ministers of Solid Minerals/Mineral Resources championing value addition and maximum beneficiation from the continent’s vast mineral resources for the development of member countries.
Techrectory with Agency Report
