THE PARADOX OF POVERTY IN PLENITUDE: X-RAYING THE IMPACT OF 2017 ECONOMIC RECOVERY AND GROWTH PLAN ON SOLID MINERALS INDUSTRY IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Socio-economic activities in the Nigerian mining industry which hitherto discovery of hydrocarbons contributed immensely to national economy, began to stifle from the mid-1970s following the outrageous dependence of the nation on crude oil as a major source of revenue and foreign exchange. Consequently, efforts made by various government administrations to revive the sector did yield the expected results. Sequel to global crises in the crude oil market which elicited economic recession in Nigeria, the Federal Government launched Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) in 2017 to drive reforms in key areas of the economy including the mining sector. The paper therefore interrogates the impact of ERGP on the growth of Nigeria’s mining industry. We relied on the qualitative data collected through secondary sources such as scholarly works, official documents, and media reports; and were analyzed descriptively. The study revealed among others that dominance of informal artisanal mining and existence of loopholes for revenue losses have impacted negatively on growth of the Nigerian solid minerals industry. We recommended inter alia that the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development should decentralize the Nigerian Cadastral Office to facilitate transition into a formalized mining economy and establish effective policing of the mining fields to curtail revenue thievery and leakages