Mahama calls for transparency and accountability in signing mining agreements

John Dramani Mahama speaks on mineral resources agreement

He calls for transparency and accountability

He spoke at an event in Nigeria

Former President John Dramani Mahama has stated that it is appropriate contractual arrangements regarding the extractive industry must be executed within the remits of transparency and openness.

Delivering the keynote address at Nasarawa Investment Summit 2022 in Nigeria on the theme ‘Building for the African Continent: Lessons from the Ghanaian economy’, Mahama said, the situation where agreements are entered without recourse to the needs of the indigenes in and around the said concessions does not augur well for uniform development.

“It will be necessary to ensure those agreements that are signed to mine these minerals are done in an atmosphere of transparency and accountability,” he said.

He explained that, “mineral resources are finite, and it is important to ensure that indigenous people on whose lands these minerals are mined are not short-changed.”

The former President, as part of his speech, stressed the need for more developed infrastructure and human resource capital in driving the community’s transformation agenda.

“While we commit to investing more in infrastructure, it would serve us well if we considered using as much as possible, expertise and human resource located right here in our continent. We must provide opportunities for indigenous businesses and as much as possible source expertise from within where it is available,” John Dramani Mahama noted.