By Charles Okogene
Barely any last minute changes, Dele Alake, the former editor of the defunct Concord Newspapers amomg other posts he has held in the past, will take his oath of office as the latest minister of solid minerals today.
Alake who was once the commissioner of information and strategy Lagos State is grounded in goverance and all the interigues.
While many including this writer had thought that he is the next information minister to at least give core professionals in information management the opportunity to manage government information, President Bola Tinubu, pulled a fast one on all of us.
Though, Alake may not be an expert in minning or a technocrat in the field of minning as we say in this clime but some of us like this writer believe that he will do well there; that he will be a listening minister and not one that will come with all the ‘I know it all posture’ if what I saw of him in a recent engagement he held with mediamen is anything to go.
Now back to the solid mineral space; there is no dobut that after petroleum resources, digital economy, solid mineral is the next ‘black gold’ for Nigeria but the way governments at all levels have been handling its exploitation is not good enough.
Solid minerals deposits in states like
Katsina, Zamfara, Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa is enough to power Nigeria in terms of the much needed forign revenue generation if past governments had treated it as our collective resource and not personal one meant for those ‘criminals’ exploiting it at the aforementioned states. Except Osun where the government of the state has been at daggers drawn with illegal miners, the miners in other nothern states seems to be in full control, mining, selling and pocketing the proceeds.
With Alake now in the staddle and the support he is likely to get from the present federal government, it will no longer be business as usual in that sector; though, it will not be a walk in the park for him as those who have been feeding fat on it are likely to give him a good fight, they will resist the change he is coming with but with consistency, tenacity, he will trumph. And I wish him well in that task. The idea that the crude oil deposit in the southern states is our own and the solid minerals from the north is theirs, just have to stop and I believe that with a minister like Alake coming with a very strong will, he will put a stop to such shenanigan. Thankfully, the zonal commanders of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Nigerian Custom Services (NCS), in the South West in a recent meeting in Ibadan have all agreed to make the zone a no go area for illegal miners – thus, making Alake’s work load in the area very light even before he seats on the chair of minister of solid minerals.
Alake must succeed and all lovers of Nigeria, irrespective of political, tribal or religious affiliation must not only pray for him to triumph but must be seen as doing everything for him to do the job to the best of his ability, if Nigeria must survive. And survive, Nigeria must survive.
Welcome on board the brand new minister!
