Speeches

Goodwill Message on “The Utilisation of Glass Sand and Fire Clay for Industrial Use in Lagos State"

Aug 30, 2007 - The duty of any responsible government is to analyze, appraise and explore its human and natural resources for planning and development purposes. I am particularly happy at this occasion jointly organized by the office of the Special Adviser on Mineral Resources Development and the Raw Material Research Development Council, an agency of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology.

Effective development and utilization of mineral resources is undoubtedly a strategy for growing economies all over the world. In Nigeria, it is no exception.

As a nation we are blessed with massive mineral resources and this has contributed to our economic prosperity. The discovery of such invaluable mineral resources such as bitumen, iron ore, tine ore, bauxite, white sands, coal, limestone etc is a huge blessing to us as a nation. We are blessed with abundant crude oil and its effective utilization has translated to the economic fortune of the nation.

Today’s event is particularly significant because it’s a demonstration of our administration’s efforts to create an awareness of the rich mineral resources that abound in Lagos State for tangible developments. Our duty as the servant of the people is to sensitize the citizens on the abundant and considerable solid mineral resources that abound in the State.

It is a fact that Lagos State is blessed with abundant human and material resources with potentials for investment. Our State is endowed with such resources that can sustain meaningful level of industrial development if explored and harnessed. However, collaborative efforts of the stakeholders present therefore are a blessing to foster co-operation and development in order to bring the State to the front burner of industrial development.

Geologists have confirmed that lying within the confine of Lagos State are deposits of glass sand, clay and other minerals yet to be discovered and exploited. We have been able to identify traces and in large quantities for that matter, silica/glass sand and fire clay for industrial sites in such places like the Lagoon of Badagry and Ibeju-Lekki. Unfortunately, most glass industries are located at Agbara in Ogun State. It now behoves us as a responsible and responsive government to harness these resources, and then encourage investors to set-up cottage industries, small and medium industries to harness them. We are ready to provide the tools and materials as inputs to encourage this endeavour. Besides, we intend to partner and tap the expertise of developed economies using simplified technology from the High Commission of India, China, Japan, South Korea, Brazil and Sweden.

Our administration is set to utilise the collaborative efforts of the Special Adviser on Mineral Resources Development and the Raw Material Development Council which is an agency of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology. We are aware that the Raw Material Development Council is saddled with the responsibility of encouraging the utilization of local raw materials as inputs to our industries and your support would be highly needed. Therefore, I want to encourage you more on these collaborative efforts and synergy by constantly organizing seminars, workshops and conferences to provide opportunity for interaction with investors, equipment fabricators, organized private sectors and the larger society.

The Office of the Special Adviser on Mineral Resources Development is to provide institutional structure that would engender industrial growth for the State thereby creating employment opportunity for our young school leavers.

I wish to emphasize here, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, that Lagos State is poised to diversify its economic base to create and generate wealth for our people. We are determined to make a reality, our vision of towards encouraging small and medium scale enterprises. In our determined efforts, we have launched the Enterprise Registration and Identification Agents (ENTRIDA) to enumerate legitimate business enterprises in the State. The idea behind this is to stimulate, encourage and invigorate small businesses to grow. We can’t wait to witness exponential growth of small and medium scale industries.

I would like to congratulate all participants and stakeholders for this initiative. I especially commend the co-operation of the Raw Material Resources Research and Development Council for your interest in helping us in our drive towards the gradual realization of our administration’s 10-point agenda hinged on poverty reduction and sustainable economic growth.

While wishing you a successful and fruitful deliberation, I want to encourage you to be down–to–earth in your discussions and views so that together we can accomplish our desire for an accelerated development of the solid minerals and chart a new course of industrial rejuvenation through the exploitation of available raw materials in Lagos State.

Thank you and God bless.

“Eko o ni baje o!”

Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN)
Governor of Lagos State