Nigeria risks losing thousands of jobs and billions of naira in potential earnings by exporting gemstones in their raw form instead of processing them into finished products, stakeholders in the mining sector have warned.
Industry representatives called for the establishment of gemstone processing clusters, affordable financing, improved security and sustained skills development to enable local operators to add value to the country’s precious stone exports.
Calls for local processing infrastructure
The stakeholders argued that without local processing facilities, raw gemstones are shipped abroad where they are cut and polished, generating higher value for foreign markets and leaving Nigeria with only a small share of the final product’s revenue.
They urged the government to support the creation of processing clusters and to provide affordable financing options for small and medium enterprises in the sector, while also highlighting the need for better security measures to protect mining sites and ongoing training programmes for workers.
For more details, see the full report published by Punch Nigeria: https://punchng.com/nigeria-losing-jobs-revenue-by-exporting-raw-gemstones-stakeholders-warn/
<small>Source: Punch Nigeria — read the original story there.</small>