13 November 2001
The Managing Director of Intercity Bank Plc, Alhaji Lamis Shehu Dikko, has called for the establishment of the solid minerals exploration and development fund to stimulate solid minerals prospecting business in Nigeria.
Alhaji Dikko made the call in a paper he presented on "solid minerals financing: Intercity Bank's perspectives" a one-day workshop on export financing, administration and practice in Nigeria organised by NEXIM Bank in Kaduna recently.
The Managing Director observed that for the mining sector to develop and prosper, a deliberate policy of integrating the small miners into the formal sector has to be evolved to facilitate their progression into medium miners.
He recommended the development of specific mining engineering and management courses by local universities in collaboration with foreign institutions to produce competent managers and technical staff or the sector.
Dikko further advocated for a reform in domestic banking sector to provide short and long term finance at competitive rates and to provide services required for the development of the sector, just as he revealed that Intercity Bank Plc is giving the mining sector top priority in its equity investment scheme.
He said that the emergence of a market for mineral properties and mineral properties agents would facilitate the growth of a thriving mineral property market in Nigeria as was the case in some countries.
Alhaji Lamis Dikko, who identified some of the bottlenecks to solid minerals financing as financial constraints, domination of market by foreigners, poor winning infrastructure, illegal mining activities, inadequate data base on solid mineral deposit sites, and lack of expertise, noted that the abundance of solid mineral resources and its prospect is a major source of foreign exchange.
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