The Gold Miners Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (GMPMA) has urged President‑elect Senator Bola Tinubu to prioritize the development of the country’s mining sector. Speaking in Abuja on Sunday, GMPMA President Auwal Bununu highlighted the sector’s chronic lack of government attention, which he said has hampered the effective implementation of projects and policies. “The sector is expected to be a major contributor to the country’s Gross Domestic Product,” Bununu noted. “In the 1960s and 70s, it contributed about 15 percent of GDP because it received strong support from the relevant authorities. Today, its contribution is low because that support has faded.”
Bununu also pointed out that financial institutions and fiscal policies are not adequately capturing the sector in policy formulation, preventing it from functioning as expected. In addition to his role at GMPMA, he serves as Technical Adviser to the Nigeria Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Miners and Agriculture (NACCIMA), an umbrella body that includes GMPMA. He said NACCIMA’s goal is to promote Nigeria’s economic development and that the association is working with stakeholders to achieve this objective.
The association welcomed the President‑elect’s pledge to form a “government of competence,” which Bununu believes will foster development across all sectors of the economy. “From my understanding, the administration will bake the national cake and ensure it reaches everyone,” he explained, contrasting this vision with the current “sharing formulas” that do not produce the cake. “If the President‑elect truly bakes the cake, mining is the most important sector, providing revenue generation and industrial development.”
Bununu emphasized that the President‑elect cannot succeed without developing the mining industry, which offers substantial revenue and job‑creation potential. Accordingly, the association is drafting a private‑sector framework for mineral and metal development, which it hopes will serve as an alternative “cake‑baking” strategy for the new administration. “We are working on a critical strategy to ensure good results, and we will engage in dialogue with the incoming administration as soon as he is sworn in,” he said.
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