The Federal Government has announced that it would commence work on the abandoned Ladi Kwali Training Centre, Suleja, in the first week of December.
Mr Olamilekan Adegbite, Minister of Mines and Steel Development (MMSD), disclosed this at the signing of the MoU and Ground breaking ceremony of the centre, on Thursday, in Suleja, Niger.
Adegbite, represented by Mr Patrick Ojenka, Director, Artisanal and Small Scale Mining Department of the ministry, said that the project would be awarded to contractors for a period of eight months, from commencement.
The $150 million World Bank-assisted Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification (MinDiver) Project aimed at enhancing the mining sector under the MMSD, would finance the project.
In reviving the centre, Adegbite said the ministry would be aligning the Nigerian mining industry with the Federal Government’s diversification policy and the African Mining Vision (AMV) for a successful project.
He said the first alignment would be by linking the mining industry and the Nigerian economy, through incorporating lower value industrial minerals at both commercial and small scale levels.
The second alignment of the project with the AMV lies in upgrading the artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM) that mine and produce the minerals used in the pottery and ceramics industry, he said.
According to him, the third alignment would be to support the role of women in pottery and ceramics making, adding that reviving the centre would similarly provide an entry point for enhancing downstream pottery and ceramics industries in Nigeria, based on increased local beneficiation and value addition of the minerals.
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