Advertisement Speaking on Monday at the stakeholders’ consultative forum on the review of the draft mineral exports’ guidelines and documentation requirements, Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning, said the policy has become more urgent in view of the present economic challenges occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as volatility of global oil prices. “This effort, therefore, is another of such deliberate federal government policy measure that is aimed at developing its monumental mining potentials and minimising dependency on oil as the nation’s continues her drive towards a progressively diversified economic base,” she said. A statement by Yunusa Tanko Abdullahi, special adviser to the finance minister on media and communications, quoted Ahmed as saying streamlining the operations of the sector would help guarantee proper regulation of the sector and promote the deployment of appropriate technology/expertise to determine the quantity and value of minerals mined and exported.