Nigeria, Feb. 21 -- In a recession year when the nation's economic activities came to a virtual halt on account of the global pandemic, the Nigerian solid minerals sector, defying all odds, is recording booming numbers, funneling N7.69 billion in royalties into federal coffers, the highest in a three-year period, according to a 2018-2020 review by PREMIUM TIMES.

The core year of the COVID pandemic, 2020, posted about half of this amount, declared a gladdened Frank Odoom, Director of the Mines Inspectorate of the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development in Abuja who walked PREMIUM TIMES through the current data which he credited to a new strategy in the ministry to pursue an aggressive revenue profile in the wake of lean oil earning into t...