LEADERS SAY IT HAS HINDERED REVENUE GENERATION IN THE CONTINENT
The Economic Community of West Africa State (ECOWAS) has over 60 different types of minerals, the third mineral reserves globally.
Despite its richly endowed abundant reserves of non-renewable mineral and natural resources such as gold, uranium, bauxite, iron ore, diamonds, phosphate and manganese, crude oil, and natural gas, only little is accounted for, in Africa’s assets as the citizens are referred to as the poorest in the world.
To change this ugly situation, the ECOWAS Parliament took to the heels of winding down its fifth legislature to bring to light the potential of mining and other extractive industries in Sierra Leone’s Capital, Freetown with the theme ‘Illegal mining and its consequences in the ECOWAS region’ aimed at setting up policies that will safeguard the region’s natural endowment for economic recovery.
Speaking during the opening session, the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone Dr. Julius Maada Bio said mineral resources should have been the main source of Government revenues expectedly accounting for more than half of all exports, but lack the ability as a result of illegal miners, and stressed the need for regional collaboration for intelligence sharing to combat illegal mining across borders.