The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has officially resigned his ministerial job to enable him focus on contesting the Ekiti State governorship election.
Fayemi said his exit followed the acceptance of his resignation by President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, to allow him to pursue other political interests.
The minister said he had a deep sense of pride about his contributions to the landmark achievements he made in the sector and he is leaving with his head held high.
He stated that he is overwhelmed by emotions as he bid goodbye to a sector that he, alongside other patriots, have invested a great deal of passionate and patriotic efforts over the past two years.
Fayemi was appointed minister on November 11, 2015.
He said the period of his stewardship in the ministry has been strategic as it coincided with this administration’s determination to reposition the Minerals and Metals Sector to serve as a frontier of economic diversification, the creation of jobs and the broadening of the range of economic opportunities available to Nigerians.
He further explained that the overall goal has been to ensure the sector contributes optimally to the building of a strong and virile economy that supports the nation’s human development goals.
The minister said to enhance the operational efficiency and effectiveness of the ministry and her agencies, the ministry secured the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to execute critical projects and programmes, which include procurement of 12 No. 4-wheel drive vehicles by ministry to monitor mining activities in remote areas of the country to ensure compliance of the rules and regulations of the mining environment; procurement of 2 No. drilling rigs for National Steel Raw Material Exploration Agency Kaduna to enhance its operational capacity and expansion of research activities on steel and other important minerals and establishment of the National Council on Mining and Mineral Resources Development to create a forum for periodically brainstorming with stakeholders in the mining sector value chain on policy matters with a view to improving on the cooperative governance of the sector.
Others, according to him, were development of IT integrated Automation and interactive Web portal for the ministry to create One Stop Shop online interface for investors and other players in the sector to obtain data on a broad range of subjects about our jurisdiction, and process a number of key applications from anywhere in the world and approval and procurement 2 No Drilling Rigs for Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) in 2017 Budget.