Minister Inaugurates Committee to Evaluate Bids

Minister Inaugurates Committee to Evaluate Bids

Thursday, August 10th 2006

THE Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Professor Leslye Obiora has inaugurated the technical committee to evaluate submitted bids for the various mining properties in the country. The minister gave a firm assurance that the committee members will “bring their knowledge and expertise to reinforce the integrity of the process” of privatising properties in the Mining sector of the Nigerian economy.

It will be recalled that the Ministry recently pre-qualified 60 local and foreign mining companies for investment in the sector.

At the inauguration ceremony in Abuja, Professor Obiora said that her Ministry which carried out the privatization process in conjunction with the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) “went to great length to ensure the constitution of the Evaluation Committee” whose members “come highly recommended from both the private sector, the civil society, the BPE and within the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development itself.

The Minister said further that “a review of the criteria for evaluation bears out the logic of (her Ministry’s) selection process.” She expressed the confidence that “at the end of the day, the process will be vindicated by the sheer rigor and thoughtfulness that informs it.” She gave the objectives of the privatization programme in the Mining sector as divesting government from mining operating interests; attracting strong, credible players into the mining sector; delivering fair value for past government investments and curtailing the huge waste of national resources.

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