By Mary Izuaka

 

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has advocated the establishment of a Mine Emergency and Community Recovery Fund to address mine-related tragedies across Africa.

Mr Alake, who is the Chairman of the Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), made the call on Monday at the third AMSG High-Level Roundtable on Critical Minerals Development, held on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, United States.

The minister also proposed an African safety facility to formalise artisanal mining and promote cooperatives in member countries.

The event was chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima and attended by African ministers of mining and other stakeholders.

Mr Alake lamented the recurring cases of mine collapses in Africa, citing huge losses in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic and the recent cases of detained suspects of illegal mining who died in Nigeria.

“Each time one of these tragedies occurs, I have had the painful responsibility, as the chairman of this Group, of conveying our condolences. But condolences, however sincere, cannot be the limit of continental solidarity,” Mr Alake said.

“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 praised artisanal and small-scale miners for supporting millions of livelihoods across the continent and supplying minerals to domestic and international markets, urging governments to formalise rather than criminalise them.

“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,” he said.

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Mr Alake also signed the Continental Integration and Economic Assurance Declaration (CIEAD), which he said will provide political assurance to coordinate bilateral and multilateral projects.

He said the declaration will facilitate predictable regional infrastructure and processing investment and encourage governments to collaborate on continental projects.

In his remarks, Vice President Shettima called on the AMSG to champion African industrial development by cooperating with foreign companies and governments based on shared values and mutual gains.

Mr Shettima said no foreign government can protect the interests of African countries better than the countries themselves, adding that Africa’s mineral resources must be used to modernise the continent and improve living conditions.

In his contribution, the Chief Executive Officer of the Africa Finance Corporation, Samaila Zubairu, commended the AMSG, arguing that African countries can no longer delay industrialisation if they must feed, house and clothe a billion people in the next 24 years.

Mr Zubairu said African governments must collaborate across regions, noting that unilateral efforts cannot address the scale of the problem.