FG to review all Mining licenses, Mining Act, NIOMCO

…Set to establish Mines Police, clamp down on illegal miners from October

As part of measures to plug revenue leakages and eliminate other sharp practices in the Solid Minerals sector, the Federal Government has announced plans to review all Mining Licences in the country.

This was as it said it would also review the draft Mining Act, the National Iron Ore Mining Company NIOMCO, Itakpe in Kogi state as well as establish the Mines Police to provide full-proof security for registered operators and ward off illegal miners.

Minister of Solid Minerals, Mr Dele Alake disclosed this on Sunday in Abuja at a parley with Political Correspondents where he unfolded a seven-point agenda for the sector.

He said he has the mandate of President Bola Tinubu to ensure that the solid mineral sector accounts for at least 50 percent of the nation’s GDP.

The seven-point agenda includes the establishment of the Nigerian Solid Minerals Corporation; Joint Ventures with Mining Multinationals; Big Data on specific seven priority minerals and their deposits; 30-day grace for illegal miners to join artisanal cooperatives; Establishment of Mines Surveillance Task Force and Mine Police; Creation of six Mineral Processing Centres to focus on Value-Added products as well as review of all mining licences.

He said; “Consequently, the Ministry shall work towards the incorporation of the Nigerian Solid Minerals Corporation. This is a corporate body that will have subsidiaries doing business in the seven priority areas that require immediate intervention and focus: Gold, Coal, Limestone, Bitumen, Lead, Iron-ore and Baryte. Existing enterprises, such as the National Iron-Ore Mining Company, and ongoing arrangements, such as the Bitumen Concessioning Programme, will be reviewed to fit into this new system.

“The Ministry will embark on a comprehensive review of all mining licences in the country; a total overhaul, review of all mining licences in the country.

“The proposed corporation will seek and secure partnership investment agreements with big Multinational companies worldwide to leverage on the attractive investment-friendly regime operating in the country to secure massive Foreign Direct Investment for the mining sector. The positioning of the national corporation as a guarantor and protector of the partnership agreements is expected to assure partners of our seriousness and fidelity.

“Similarly, the Solid Minerals Corporation will provide robust support for Nigerian businessmen seeking funding abroad and help to authenticate their investment proposals to speed up the commitment of their partners to invest.

Solid minerals will contribute 50% to Nigeria’s GDP - Alake
“Domestically, the Solid Minerals Corporation will engage the Nigerian financial system, which has demonstrated palpable reluctance to support mineral prospecting and mining because of the long-term gestation of value generation by developing a Fund to facilitate investments in mining at interest rates that will be mutually agreed.

“The emergence of the Corporation in the business of mining will enable the Ministry to focus more on its core regulatory and promotional mandates of sanitizing the sector and developing ideas, processes, and institutions that facilitate the ease of doing business in the industry”.

He said Nigeria will be in dire straits in the next couple of years if the country does not deliberately diversify its mono product economy

According to him, a significant and interesting fact is that the solid minerals sector that was exploited by the colonial government for export contributed 4.5 percent to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product in the 1960s, and 5.6 percent by 1980 accounted for less than 2 percent of Nigeria’s GDP last year.

“To demonstrate the gravity, compare this performance to the records of less-endowed countries such as Senegal (20%), Mauritania (24%), and Namibia (50%).

“How did a country with industrial, energy, metallic, construction, and precious minerals, including gold, manganese, bitumen, lithium, iron ore, lead, zinc, limestone, uranium, columbite, barite, kaolin, gemstones, coal, topaz, copper in massive proportions fail to use these resources to liberate the citizens? At the last count, our estimated reserves include Gold (1 million ounces); Limestone (568 metric tonnes), Lead/Zinc, (Baryte (15 million metric tonnes), Bitumen (N1.1 billion barrels), Iron Ore (3 billion Metric Tonnes) and Coal, (N396 million). How did a sector with over 2 million operators, including over 633 small-scale companies and 251 500 registered miners, struggle to give the economy capital and human development?

“The reasons are no longer invisible. Studies and practical experience in the field have identified several factors, such as inefficient geo-data, weak implementation and enforcement, poor environmental, safety, and health policies, fragility and conflict, unregulated artisanal mining, low technical capacity, lack of access to financing, weak inter-governmental and inter-agency co-ordination and weak federal/state relations over mining land as the severe barriers to the development of the sector”, he stated.

Grace period for illegal miners

Alake also noted that government’s strategy for the development of the sector has been driven by the accommodation and mainstreaming of artisanal miners.

However, he said despite these generous and patriotic gestures, there still exists those who have defied all entreaties to join co-operatives and be formalized.

“They prefer to continue to operate as illegal miners. For the last time, let me declare that the Ministry is giving such persons 30 days grace to join a miners’ co-operative or find another vocation to do.

“On the expiration of the period, the full weight of the law will fall on anyone seen on a mining site without a determinable status. This message will be interpreted into Nigerian languages and broadcast on the radio to ensure no one is ignorant of this directive.

“From October, a rejuvenated security regime will become active in the solid minerals sector. This will include the Mine Police, sourced from the Nigeria Police and specially trained to detect illegal mining and apprehend offenders.

“The new Mines Surveillance Security Task Force will coordinate the Mines Police and pro-actively address high risk incidences of breach of Mining Laws. The Federal and State governments will also be encouraged to allocate the prosecution of cases against illegal miners to competent courts.

“A regular source of conflict and insecurity is the management of community relations by mining licensees. Whereas the Mining Act recognizes minerals under the ground as the exclusive property of the Federal Government, it also elaborates the need to engage communities whose hitherto peaceful and orderly environment may be disrupted by the investor about to activate a mining license. It is in the interest of peace and order not to arrogate reckless appropriation of communal resources in the guise of executing a license.

“Therefore, while the Ministry will continue to review the standard operating procedures for engaging communities within mining licences, communities are hereby encouraged to form committees which can address the concerns of their members on compensation before exploration, employment during exploration, quarrying, and mining and sustainable community socially responsible programmes during and after rehabilitation of mined sites. Officials of the Ministry have been mandated to prioritize this and facilitate the appropriate appropriation to maintain peace and harmony in the communities”, he stated.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2023/09/fg-to-review-all-mining-licenses-mining-act-niomco/

This is bold and audacious!

A lot of illegal miners will soon be out of business while those who collected mining licenses but fail to use it and build mines will lose their licenses. Check my signature for free stuffs!

FreeStuffsNG:
This is bold and audacious!

A lot of illegal miners will soon be out of business while those who collected mining licenses but fail to use it and build mines will lose their licenses.

No one cares about your stupid thread old man , get a job and stop trying so hard on a forum for young people 🤣🤣🤣

Very nice

FG to ? These people are indeed stupid jokers.Under who and how long has the corrupt Zamfara state governor and other northern elites been running the gold mines that has been the bane of insecurity under the state?

Was it not under the same APC? Was he not one of the same governors that advocated amnesty for bandits and terrorist? Why did you think they did that? Because they are the bandits always doing business according to most officials of the APC government.

all the mines in the north are privately or illegally own by rich and powerful alhajis


it's only that of the south that belongs to the federation .

Better o

Erudite skullars won't like this news.

excellent this is good.

Go Nigeria go.

We are proud of the strides being made.

We need a Nigerian slogan in the native languages

Keep all these plans secret and surprise Nigerians with results

This is how Obi changed Anambra state that was run at the dictates of the UBA family as a family enterprise before Obi tenure.

People who complained and accused Obi of poor performance were those he displaced from their corrupt source of income.

Obi met a terrific Anambra taken over by touts and corrupt officials but sanitised and changed the narrative without media frenzy and shenanigans

That's leadership style of great leaders.

To wike demolition and destruction of property is good Governance

Umahi who ignorantly built concrete pavement of the Ebonyi airport runway that is costing the state additional money in Billions in converting to asphalt is going round advocating for concrete pavement on all our high ways without knowing the implications of such technology on some parts of the road....

Government that wants to end poverty with palliative is not just unserious but clueless and incompetent.

That's Good

Chai..


Way to go.

But embezzlers will never rest.

Some people are already finding a way to Nigerianized the process.

This story feels like Deja vu.

this country is really blessed only that thieves are plenty

Bring back fuel subsidy... How we go get Crude oil come dey suffer again

Good. But why do Obidients like to complain about any good policies of the federal government. Nawa oo.

Ahh Abeg. It's long overdue

Racoon:
FG to ? These people are indeed stupid jokers.Under who and how long has the corrupt Zamfara state governor and other northern elites been running the gold mines that has been the bane of insecurity under the state?

Was it not under the same APC? Was he not one of the same governors that advocated amnesty for bandits and terrorist? Why did you think they did that? Because they are the bandits always doing business according to most officials of the APC government.

A new sheriff is in town!!!..that was CPC in power and not ACN!!!

A lot of big grammar with little shift in ideology.
The best and most efficient way of making the mining sector active is to devolve pwr to the states in terms of minerals ownership and administration.
Tinubu in his manifesto talked about devolution of powers but I guess he was just playing.
Is it the same police who have failed at stopping oil bunkering and pipeline damages that you want to monitor mining sites and apprehend illegal miners? As in, our N50 police?
What about those mining sites under the jurisdiction of bandits? Is the police going to take on Dogo Gide et al as illegal miners?
Lastly, I don't think 50% GDP from mining is realistic. That is not good for our economy in the first place and I don't even think we have enough products to achieve that never mind where the investment will come from.

Parachoko:
That's Good

What is good?
Kindly explain what is good or are you just here to write rubbish under the guise of standing on a rotten mandate?
I'm sure you didn't even read the body self.
Such a waste

Unperturbedpota:


No one cares about your stupid head old man , get a job and stop trying so hard on a forum for young people 🤣🤣🤣

FreeStuffsNG
Wetin u do this guy?

Initial gra -gra nothin will happen, that what umahi did in ebonyi state, collecting 1million naira for every truck of material, yet he could not set up a chemical analysis laboratory, many people abandoned their sites and went to business friendly state, but it does not concern him, he collected 500k as registration for each mineral buyer in 2018 and 1million per truck as tax, plus registered cooperatives runing to billions, now 90% of the investors left the sites

grandstar:



FreeStuffsNG
Wetin u do this guy?

i don't know how sir. By what he does, he is obviously a troll, cyberbully and criminal defamer. He has multiple monikers. I only report him to mods and appropriate authorities to fulfill the counsel that we expose evil and that's all, I don't use foul words or descend to exchange of words with him.

He is already in trouble anyways and I am not in a place to redeem him. Do have a great day sir.

😂😂.

It is time for Tinubu to revoke ownership of licences and place them in the hands of his own loyalists and cronies. This old order is just super predictable. They keep rotating the nation's wealth amongst themselves. Jonathan was just too weak to have executed the tribal favouritism to its fullest.

FreeStuffsNG:
This is bold and audacious!

A lot of illegal miners will soon be out of business while those who collected mining licenses but fail to use it and build mines will lose their licenses. Check my signature for free stuffs!

Werey na you go post na you go for first comment.
Alake wey no Jack for mining....lol he want to set up under paid miner police who will later be bribed when they get to site
I swear both of una werey

Good development

Unperturbedpota:


No one cares about your stupid thread old man , get a job and stop trying so hard on a forum for young people 🤣🤣🤣

Of course you hate to hear positive news but negative ones. You blocked your ears, closed your eyes and shut down your heart for anything positive to your country. What have you personally achieved in your own community. Ain't you a Nigerian ?
You and your cohort will rush here now to attack without thinking nor reading. Oya let attack begin. It's in their gene. Nobody take them serious again because they are pigs that always grunt on anything.
Headless monkeys.
Spit.