General news
N5bn mining intervention loan: No female miner accessed facility
Mining site in Nigeria
Honorable Janet Ade
The Honorable Janet Adeyemi, President of the NGO Women in Mining Nigeria (WIMIN), has alleged that no women small-scale artisanal miners have benefited from the N5 billion mining intervention loan.
Adeyemi made this known in an interview with the Nigerian News Agency in Abuja.
Mines and Steel Development
She said the conditionality attached to the loan from Mines and Steel Development and the Bank of Industry (BoI) was too strict for women miners to agree to.
recalls that in 2017, both the ministry and the BoI signed an agreement to each contribute 2.5 billion naira, for a total of 5 billion naira as an intervention fund for artisanal miners.
Kayode Fayemi
The agreement was signed by Governor Kayode Fayemi, who was the then minister with BoI officials.
Adeyemi said that the conditions should be relaxed, if the fund was really intended for artisanal miners.
“We have tried several times to access credit but without success, we have sufficiently qualified affiliates but they were not given them because their guarantees (houses) were not in the cities.
Benin City
“One of our members who has his collateral in Benin City, Edo was denied the loan.
“They are looking for different excuses to prevent our members from accessing the fund, even our male counterparts also complained about the same problem.
“The bureaucracy in Nigeria is too much. I understand the risk associated with the mining sector, but there are things that need to be worked out,” she said.
She said that the US government gave some grants to business owners to help their businesses.
Federal Government
“The Federal Government can do the same and monitor the fund.
“If we continue like this, the small miners that dominate the sector will continue in the same place without advancing,” he said.
He said that without official inclusion, women in mining will continue to lag behind in accessing funds due to stringent conditions and collateral issues.
Minister of Mines and Steel Development
he also recalls that the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Olamilekan Adegbite, said that the five billion naira was in BoI custody to be disbursed to miners who meet the criteria.
Adegbite said that from 2017 to date, the ministry’s N2.5 billion contribution to BoI had generated N1 billion in interest, making it N3.5 billion.
“But more than N300 million has been disbursed from the fund to some miners,” he said.
According to him, the purpose of the fund is not to generate interest for the government but to develop the sector.
He said loan criteria had been relaxed, adding that artisanal miners only needed collateral, which would have to be a grade 14 journeyman or higher.
it also reports that the loan will be available at a single-digit interest rate of five percent.
