Mr Edward Danladi, the Vice President, Miners Association of Nigeria, has urged stakeholders involved in the disbursement of the N5 billion mining intervention fund to relax criteria for accessing the fund.
Danladi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja that the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development and the Bank of Industry (BOI) should relax the criteria for accessing the funds to encourage the mining industry.
The amount was part of the N30 billion intervention fund approved by President Muhammadu Buhari during the Federal Executive Council meeting (FEC) in October 2016.
The fund was drawn from the 1.6 per cent Natural Resource Fund domiciled in the Federation Account for the development of agriculture, mining and water resources sectors.
According to him, if the criteria are flexible, the Artisanal and Small Scale Miners (ASM) will be able to access the fund.
“The N5 billion is for ASM, most of them are illiterates and if conditions attached for accessing the fund are too stringent for them, the aims of the intervention fund will be defeated.
“Miners always experience hash criteria for accessing loans from BOI, Central Bank of Nigeria among others. That is why the association is asking for leniency for the disbursement of the fund.
“The interest rate of the loans is five per cent, which is highly commendable,” he said.
Alhaji Shehu Sani, President of the asociation, had said the criteria for accessing the fund would soon be released through an advertisement.
According to Sani, the fund that is domiciled with the BOI, can only be accessed by ASM that form cooperatives.