The Miners Association of Nigeria says it will be elect new executives to run its affairs for the next four years.
The President of the association, Alh. Sani Shehu, told Nationaltrail on Sunday in Abuja that the new executives would be elected on April 3.
He said that he had served as the president of the association for eight and half years and that during his tenure, the association recorded significant achievements and recognition, both locally and internationally.
“During my tenure, the association was remodeled, brought to lime light and the perception of the Federal Government and the Ministry of Mines toward the association changed.
“Before we came on board, the then executives behaved like activists.
”Their approach to redressing issues was confrontational.
”So, there was no good relationship between the association and the government.
“At that time, nobody invited the association to any programme both local and international.
”We were seen as a group that engaged in illegal operation, but today, the story has changed positively
” We have reformed the association from troublemaking group to a responsible group ,” he said.
According to him, the association have contributed to the growth of the mining sector and participated in the drafting of the mining roadmap and regulations, and I am the current Vice President of ECOWAS Federation of Chambers of Mines.
He said lack of funds, inadequate mineral data generation among others were the challenges limiting the growth of the sector.
He urged the Federal government to improve in all of these to enable Nigeria to compete with other mining nations.
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