FG, private firm, train 30 Nigerians on Gemstone Mining

About 30 Nigerians were on Thursday trained on gemstones value addition by the federal government in conjunction with mineral support for economic diversification (MinDiver).

The training titled gemstone and jewelry master training and empowerment programme, was aimed at harnessing Nigeria’s solid minerals potentials for youth employment and national growth.

Tope Adebanjo, Jewelry Training Consultant for the ministry of solid minerals development, said that the exercise was in line with the federal government’s “value addition philosophy.”

He added that the initiative will “develop and raise entrepreneurs for this sector,” as he disclosed that the programme which is designed to provide a starter pack for beneficiaries “provides investment opportunities through which the graduates can make a meaningful living.”

The MinDiver team lead also disclosed plans of a World Bank loan for the 72 beneficiaries of the programme, which he said were trained by two consulting groups.

This is as he further explained that the programme has established an affiliation with the Central Connecticut State University “where we can get grants for these people from them.”

On the process of selecting the trainees, he insisted that questionaires were sent to the six geopolitical zones of the country from where bench workers were picked.

“But we now went to Kano on the study tour and we saw people that have been doing this for over 43 years. It’s now a third generation drink. They saw it in Kano. Everything they use they import in Nigeria.

“The silver, the gemstones, everything, even the equipment we give them is more advanced than what these people are using.

“So we make them see the problems and they are now the solution. So for example, if you buy a gem of like 200,000, you can multiply it by five, by adding value to it, by making a change.

“So that’s it. So we’re not going to leave them. That’s why we are Nigerians and we want to promote them. We want them to do well,” he added.

Tope further insisted that “When I read that 40% of the poorest people will live in Nigeria and Congo by 2050.

Then what do we need to do? Human capital development. So that’s why we decided that we need to raise entrepreneurs in this area, in the sector.”