The Nigerian mining sector needs huge funds for exploration projects in the country.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite in a statement issued by his media aide, Ayodeji Adeyemi on Monday.
He said, “Our focus is now on de-risking the sector, by the provision of more up-to-date and comprehensive data on mineral occurrences in Nigeria and enabling a more investor-friendly environment through favorable incentives.
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“The ongoing National Exploration Project (NIMEP), is government’s rapid response to the dearth of investible geoscience data.”
The Minister also called on more youth to take advantage of the N75 billion Youth Investment fund, approved by the federal government.
Adegbite explained that the fund was set aside to nurture and develop entrepreneurship spirit amongst the youths.
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He said, “This administration was interested in nurturing entrepreneurship spirit amongst the youth, viewing them as the leaders of tomorrow.
“The N75 billion fund is meant to assist youth who have good business ideas but no capital to back such ideas up. I want to encourage everyone who has a good idea to apply for the funds. You can get more details if you go to the website of the Ministry of Youths and Sport Development.”
He added that a minimum of N25 billion has been set aside each year for the next 3 years, totaling N75billion.
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What you need to know
The Loan, whose aim is to fund about 500, 000 youths from 2020-2023, has an approval range of between N250, 000 to N50million with a spread across group applications, individual applications, working capital loan set as one year and term loan set at three years with a single-digit interest rate of 5%.
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The Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning (MFBNP) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will provide the financing to kick-start the fund. Disbursement will be through various channels, which will include Micro Credit Organizations across the country under the Central Bank of Nigeria supported by BOI, Fintech Organizations and Venture Capital Organizations, registered with the CBN.
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