Source: newsthemegh.com
The government is giving value addition in the sector of natural resources top priority, according to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to guarantee that the state reaps the greatest rewards.
To guarantee that Ghanaians play larger roles in the extraction of these resources, he claimed that the government is also enhancing local engagement and local content.
The need for this, in his opinion, is urgent given that the majority of the world’s mineral riches are found in the poorest nations.
On Thursday, May 11, 2023, President Akufo-Addo gave the keynote address at the Natural Resources Stakeholder Dialogue in Accra. He noted that 60% of the world’s extremely poor live in sub-Saharan Africa, and that several of the continent’s resource-rich nations rank among the world’s poorest nations.
These nations include the largest mineral reserves in the world, the largest producers of cobalt, industrial diamonds, and copper, as well as the countries with the largest reserves of bauxite. They also hold enormous deposits of iron ore, diamonds, and bauxite.
The worst part is that many of the locations where these resources are found seem to be among the world’s most underdeveloped. For instance, in our nation, Obuasi, which formerly housed the biggest gold mine in the entire world, is still entirely undeveloped. The situation is same to that of other locations, such as Tarkwa, Prestea, Wassa, and Bibiani, which have long been popular with travelers and seekers of fortune.
The President claims that a number of factors are to blame for this, including inadequate and shortsighted negotiations with businesses that exploit these natural resources, corruption, incompetence, and political instability, the failure to put the necessary framework in place to establish the highest end of the extractive industry’s value chain, and extensive tax and royalty exemptions, among others.
He claimed that as a result, mining companies have made exceptional profits at the cost of the owners of these minerals.
After centuries of mining, he emphasized, Africa still retains around 30% of the world’s mineral reserves, with even higher concentrations of gold, diamonds, bauxite, and manganese, but their contribution to socioeconomic development has been mediocre at best.
“With all of these resources, we ought to have been the world’s richest continent. The irony is that Africa continues to be the world’s poorest continent.
“We must not make the same errors again. While it is necessary for mining firms to turn a profit, he added, “this must not be done at the expense of the lands and the people who supply these resources.
President Akufo-Addo emphasized the need for these governments to utilize their natural resources for sustainable development, which calls for resource extraction that does not harm the environment.
In his speech, Samuel Abu Jinapor, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to working with all stakeholders to build a sustainable and value-added natural resources sector that is based on openness, honesty, and the highest degree of good faith for the benefit of the Ghanaian people, who are the true owners of these resources.
He contends that managing natural resources should focus on sustainability, environmental protection, averting climate change, and maximizing returns for resource owners rather than just protecting and exploiting them.
“As a result, we have been acting in accordance with President Akufo-Addo’s directives over the past few years to ensure the effective, efficient, and sustainable management of our natural resources, even, and perhaps most significantly, implementing policies intended to retain the value chain of these resources in-country,” the statement reads.
He expressed the expectation that a shared route would be mapped out through the dialogue to manage Ghana’s natural resources sustainably, add value to them, keep the top end of the sector, support the national economy, and safeguard the environment for the benefit of all.