By Martha Agas
The Gemstone Miners and Marketers Association of Nigeria (GMMAN) says the third edition of its conference, the Nigeria Gemstone and Jewelry Expo (NGJE) 2025, will focus on seeking opportunities for sustainable financing for the sector.
GMMAN’s President, Mr Adeniran Ajibade, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.
Ajibade said that the conference would bring together industry players, policymakers, international dealers, private operators along the gemstone value chain, and other stakeholders to discuss funding opportunities aimed at developing the sector.
He said that the theme of the conference, “Financing sustainable practices in gemstone mining and processing, jewelry production and marketing”, aims to chart the sustainable development of Nigeria’s gemstone industry.
“The Nigerian gemstone industry actually has a lot of potential because Nigeria is endowed with a variety of amazing gemstones.
“As of now, we are just at the initial level of development and we need to advance that process.
“We need to produce more, then we process more, add value more and export and also make it more popular for usage in Nigeria, he said.
Ajibade explained that the government, as regulator of the mining sector has a roadmap for its development, which operators, such as GMMAN have aligned with.
He said they engage with the government on this basis to ensure it fulfilled its role of creating an enabling environment to drive private-sector operations for industry growth.
According to him, financing is a major challenge in the sector, even though it is not peculiar to the gemstone industry but reflects the wider Nigerian business environment.
He lamented that financing projects was difficult due to Nigerian banks charging interest rates of up to 32 per cent.
“We cannot even be competitive because in other overseas countries and some other developed world, they talk about four per cent interest on their loans.
“So, definitely, it is not the best of funding situation that we have in Nigeria. This is one of the things we want to discuss at the conference to see, how we will be able to source for funds.
“ We want to look at funding and even the different activities along the value chain, he said.
Ajibade described funding for mining as high risk, but said the risk for funding trading and processing, including value addition, could be lower.
“We have invited some key players, who have actually succeeded in sourcing finances for their mining project to share their experience with us“, he said.
NAN reports that the conference will hold from Aug. 25 to Aug. 27 at the University of Ibadan International Conference Centre.
Topics to deliberate on include Government Policy and Support for Investment in the Mining and Gemstone Industry, Control Blasting Techniques for Safe and Efficient Mining of Gemstones and Unlocking Potentials of the Jewelry Industry.
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