The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has dismissed allegations that his ministry spent N700m in setting up a mere website.
According to Daily Sun, he said what the Ministry had acquired with the said amount was an integrated IT infrastructure comprising two data centres, an off-site recovery centre, civil and environmental works on the centres, running of the centres till end of first quarter 2018, training of over 225 officials locally and internationally amongst other cost components of the entire infrastructure and programme.
A statement by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry in Abuja yesterday, Mohammed Abbas, said it was indeed misleading of anyone to reinvent and reduce all of these into an expenditure on a website.
He explained that the unveiling of the IT Integrated Automation and Interactive Solid Minerals Portal (IAISMP) before officials of the ministry and sectoral stakeholders in Abuja last Thursday was in fulfillment ofone of the short-term pledges listed in the ministry’s roadmap.
These assets, according to Abbas, form critical pillars of their agenda; to reform the mining and minerals sector particularly as a key step towards the vision to lead the sector to shared mining prosperity; where it makes significant contributions to GDP in the country.
He stated that the ministry had carefully followed all laid down processes including obtaining the concurrence of the Federal Executive Council after a detailed presentation in January 2017, since the cost of implementing the project was above ministerial limits.
“It is most important to state that acquired IT infrastructure, in all its ramifications, is an enabler of the serious work at repositioning the sector.
“We have done repeated due diligence to ensure that the implementation of the project does not only meet expected design but also fits into globally recognised systems and further help us to place our jurisdiction on the mining map.
"A phased approach has been adopted, with incremental deliverables which should be fully completed by end of first quarter of 2018,” the Permanent Secretary stated.