The Federal Government today in Abuja approved the reclamation of abandoned mines sites nationwide.
There are more than 1, 218 abandoned mines and quarry sites, identified by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.
Addressing news men at the 2008 ministerial news conference, the Minister, Chief Sarafa Isola, said five of the sites had already been reclaimed. They are in Ebonyi and Edo states.
Isola said the World Bank, through its Sustainable Management of Mineral Resources Project (SMMRP), would assist in the reclamation of four others in Plateau and Kano states.
He said that the abandoned sites, left uncovered after mining activity by mostly artisan miners, were largely responsible for the environmental degradation in the host communities.
According to him, the recently inaugurated State Mineral Resources and Environmental Compliance Committees, are part of efforts to address issues of land degradation and pollution, associated with mining.
Isola said the new legislative and institutional framework now in place, would also address the mining challenges and rebuild the confidence of investors in the sector.
He said that the absence of such framework in the past, discouraged big mining companies from investing in Nigeria.
"No big mining company or investor can operate or invest in a sector that is not guided by law; there is no mining sector that can work without a cadastre system.”
He said obsolete documents were responsible for the backwardness of the sector, which was once a major revenue earner for the country.
The Information and Communications Minister, Mr John Odey, said the seven strategic minerals listed as economically viable resources were in line with government’s seven-point agenda.
Odey said the reclamation of the mines sites was proactive and compatible with best global practice of protecting the environment.
He expressed government’s continuous commitment to creating an investors’ friendly environment.