N700m invested on IT infrastructure, human capital, not on personal website- Fayemi clarifies

Yemi Adedeji, Abuja

Fayemi in a statement issued on Sunday  by Mohammed Abbas, the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, noted that the ministry considered it incumbent to react swiftly to the misrepresentation and to set the records straight.

The Minister  added that the ministry has no reason to commit public resources to projects that would not advance the cause of re-positioning the mining  sector.

Fayemi explained  that the acquired IT infrastructure, in all its ramifications, is an enabler of the serious work at repositioning the sector.

The statement in parts: “when, last Thursday, 9th November 2017, our Ministers led other officials of the ministry and sectoral stakeholders to unveil the IT Integrated Automation & Interactive Solid Minerals Portal (IAISMP), we were really fulfilling one of the short-term pledges listed in our roadmap.

“In realising aspects of this project as a turnkey solution, we have been careful to follow all laid down processes. Since the cost of implementing the project is above ministerial limits, we sought and obtained the concurrence of the Federal Executive Council after a detailed presentation in January 2017.

“It is important for clarity to state that what the Ministry has acquired with the said sum of money is an integrated IT infrastructure which comprises two Data Centres, an off-site recovery centre, civil and environmental works on the Centres, running of the Centres till end of first quarter 2018, training of over 225 officials locally and internationally amongst other cost components of the entire infrastructure and programme. It is indeed disingenuous of anyone to reinvent and reduce all of these into an expenditure on a website.

“In the course of the project, we have emphasised the need for stakeholders’ interface, which included a facility inspection tour for reporters and journalists who cover the sector. We have no reason to commit public resources to projects that will not advance the cause of repositioning our sector and we believe that we did everything to intimate the general public about our activities in this respect.

“For us, this is never an end in itself but a robust attempt to ease how the regulatory-cum-administrative systems interface with mining operators and stakeholders everywhere.

 “We have done repeated due diligence to ensure that the implementation of the project does not only meet expected design but also fits into globally recognised systems and further help us to place our jurisdiction on the mining map. A phased approach has been adopted, with incremental deliverables which should be fully completed by end of first quarter of 2018.

“for the records and for public information, our IT Integrated Automation & Interactive Solid Minerals Portal (IAISMP) project has the following key components:

“Feasibility assessment, needs analyses and re-engineering of the IT processes within the ministry, departments and agencies; 2nos data centres (a fully equipped on-premises centre within the ministry and another off-site centre for recovery and real-time backup in case of emergency), also covering civil and environmental works;

“Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution and Electronic Document Management System (eDMS) solution—Microsoft Dynamics AX: Financials, Supply Chain, Business Intelligence, Human Capital, Procurement (license and maintenance); Basic and advanced IT (ERP & eDMS) and GIS training programmes for 200nos staff of the ministry and its agencies. Already 75 officials have been trained in Abuja;

“GIS capacity building for 25nos management and lead technical staff with Esri; Wide Area Network at the ministry’s headquarters and all its 10 agencies (including back up internet, disaster recovery hosting and DR site internet—installation and initial one-year subscription) Procurement, supply and installation of a GIS laboratory with 20nos computer systems; Building of GIS Web Portal with Business Automation System, Content Management System (CMS), Decision Support System and Side Stream along the minerals corridor;

“Reordering and re-organisation of available geological data in the sector into geospatial database; Online Mining Licensing and Mineral Title Application with tracking system for openness, transparency and accountability in compliance with global EITI standards for the extractives sector; Online payment (royalties and fees) and blocking of revenue leakages by integrating/interfacing with Remita, GIFMIS and relevant revenue generating MDAs of the government;

“Enterprise ArcGIS Solution license and maintenance for GIS Mining and Assets Management; On-site project management and execution staff (26nos), including operationalisation of the project management office for upward of 10 months. Project staff to remain on-site till end of Q1-2018; Procurement, supply and installation of various project equipment, complete with civil works;