Experts have called for a reinvestment in solid mineral deposits to rejuvenate the nation’s economy and address the poverty situation in the Northeast and the country in general.

The convener of the North East 2025 Africa Mineral Summit & Exhibition, John Pakka, said, “With so much mineral wealth, Nigerians have no business being poor.

“The overwhelming majority of Nigerians do not know anything about solid minerals. We do not know the viability of what we have.”

With emphasis on Adamawa State, Pakka said, “The minerals around the state are more than enough to enrich everybody.

“Adamawa State have more than 50 different minerals; industrial minerals, gemstones and other types of rare earth minerals.

“Those of us living in the villages, around rocks and such places, we think these stones are ordinary without knowing that they are fortunes.”

He said the solid minerals summit and exhibition, held in Yola from Tuesday, February 25 to Wednesday, February 26, was intended to spread the message of wealth creation through solid minerals exploitation and value addition.

The chairman of the occasion,  Bashir Aliu, said the potential of solid minerals is unbelievably high but very little known or appreciated.

“We have so much mineral wealth only to live in abject poverty,” saying only a few halfhearted efforts have been made by authorities to develop the solid minerals sector”.

He boasted that “Adamawa State can provide the entire country its aluminium needs but Adamawa has no single company to mine aluminium,” calling for a change in attitude to the development of the solid minerals sector.