Nigeria is spending $44.5m yearly in the importation of industrial minerals, Minister of State, Mines, and Steel Development Bawa Bwari has said.
Bwari said this on Tuesday in Abuja when he received a report that Nigeria needs $123 million to develop industrial minerals.
According to him, there is a gap of 626,921 tonnes yearly in the production of industrial minerals needed by the local companies in Nigeria.
And to fill this gap, the industries are now resorting to importation which is gulping $44.5m yearly.
“Ground calcium carbonate, ground mica, titanium dioxide, granite blocks, gypsum, talc, and barites were established as the most valued imported industrial mineral products imported in the years 2014 to 2016 in that order, indicating great potential for substituting their importation by local production,” the minister said.
