By Palma Ileye
Minister of Solid Minerals Development and Chairman of the Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), Dr. Dele Alake, has advocated the establishment of a Mine Emergency and Community Recovery Fund to mitigate human and material losses arising from mine collapses across Africa.
Alake made the call yesterday in New York, United States, at the third AMSG High-Level Roundtable on Critical Minerals Development, held on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly.
The meeting, according to a press release signed by Kehinde Bamigbetan for the Minister, was chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima, and was attended by African Ministers responsible for mining and other stakeholders in the sector.
The Minister, who also proposed an African safety facility to support the formalisation of artisanal mining and promote mining cooperatives, expressed concern over the recurring loss of lives in mine-related disasters across the Continent.
He cited mine collapse incidents in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic, as well as the recent deaths of suspected illegal miners in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Niger State.
Alake said while he had repeatedly conveyed condolences to affected countries as chairman of AMSG, such gestures should be followed by practical measures to prevent further loss of lives.
“Condolences, however sincere, cannot be the limit of continental solidarity. Behind every casualty figure is a family that has lost a breadwinner, a child who may no longer return to school, a household pushed deeper into poverty and a community left to cope with a disaster for which it was never equipped,” he said.
The Minister also called for greater support for artisanal and small-scale miners, noting that the sector provides livelihoods for millions of Africans and supplies minerals to domestic and international markets.
He urged African governments to prioritise formalisation rather than criminalisation of artisanal mining, stressing the need to provide miners with geological guidance, basic safety systems and credible emergency response mechanisms.
“If AMSG can mobilise governments, financiers and investors around the billion-dollar mineral corridors, we should also be capable of mobilising expertise and resources to prevent miners from entering unsupported pits without geological guidance, basic safety systems or credible emergency response,” Alake said.
He also signed the Continental Integration and Economic Assurance Declaration (CIEAD), aimed at providing political assurance for the coordination of bilateral and multilateral projects across the continent.
According to him, the declaration will promote predictable regional infrastructure and processing investments while encouraging governments to collaborate on continental projects.
Earlier, Shettima urged AMSG to champion African industrial development through partnerships with foreign companies and governments based on shared values and mutual benefits.
Also speaking, Chief Executive Officer of the Africa Finance Corporation, Samaila Zubairu, commended the AMSG initiative, saying African countries could no longer afford to delay industrialisation if the continent must feed, house and clothe an estimated one billion people over the next 24 years.
