Nigeria has 7,200 valid mineral titles – NMCO

Nigeria has 7,200 valid mineral titles – NMCO

The Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office (NMCO) says the country currently has 7,200 valid solid mineral titles across the federation.

Director General (DG) of NMCO Engineer Obadiah Nkom disclosed while having an interactive session with newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday.

The figure is a significant increase in the number of valid mining titles, i.e. licences that are operational, in the last one year, thus attesting to improvement in the administration of solid mineral resources in the country in recent years.

“We have 7,200 active mining titles that are working,” he said.

The SUMMIT reports that NEITI in its 2020 solid minerals report released last March stated that 6,010 existing solid mineral titles in the country were valid as of 31st December 2020, while 7,605 mining titles were issued in the industry in the past five years, thus confirming the disclosure by the DG.

The DG noted that with the improved system, more applicants, especially from the international scene, are coming for licenses, however, said the process of revoking more licenses for one reason or the other is on, adding that the MCO use to follow all procedures and explore all avenues before taking action.

He stated that over 4,000 names of mineral title holders were published in some national dailies recently.

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Engineer Nkom, who was upbeat about the MCO surpassing its last year’s (2021) generated revenue, also revealed that within the first four months of this year, January to April, the office raked in N1.262 billion though on a somewhat slow note.

According to him, the revenue drive for the year was slow due to certain prevailing factors, the said amount was what was realised at the end of April 2022.

Nkom said that the amount was generated on a slow start within four months from the issuance of mining titles, and licence fees, among others.

Speaking further, the NMCO chief executive officer said: “Every year since 2019, we keep beating the previous year in revenue generation” adding that the secret is the teamwork among the seasoned and committed calibre of staff in the cadastre office and strict adherence to the provisions of the laws.

It could be recalled that NMCO generated N4.3 billion in 2021, an increase from the N2.3 billion it generated in 2020.

He said that the projection for 2021 was N2.5 billion but NMCO surpassed the projection to N4.3 billion.

“The figure is the highest ever generated to the federation account by NMCO over the years.”

“I have my projection for this year on the amount to generate for the sector as I always believe that I should be able to do better than in previous years.

“Mining sector is not only about revenue generation, there are other factors that are equally important as the revenue,” he said.

Tracing the evolution of the MCO, Engineer Nkom who noted that the cadastre system is in the transition stage said it has been undergoing transformations in line with the 2007 Mining Act, which serves as a new operational guide, in the last few years.

According to him, the act made possible the to transition from the irregular polygon age as it were to the cadastre system and now to the second phase of the transformation which is computerisation (digitisation) of the system whereby most activities and operations of the office would be driven by software technologies.

The NCOM affirmed that the cadastre system had digitised and migrated online, adding that it would be launched to the public in about two months’ time.

He said the whole essence is to ensure efficient and transparent administration of the mineral titles in the country in line with international best practices.

He said under his watch, the office, working closely with the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, had established principles which being strictly implemented in line with the policies of the government and the provisions of the Act.

He itemised the principles to be: first come first serve, use it or lose it under which licences that are used or dormant are revoked for the title to be given to those willing to invest and operationalize the license; and then non-subjectivity. Others are the security of tenure of security of license and transparency.

He said in pursuit of transparency and accountability, the office is collaborating with relevant national and international agencies including the Nigerian Extractive Transparency International Initiative (NEITI), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) all the security apparatus of the Nigerian state.

The NMCO boss however expressed concern over the challenges of the poor relationship between licensees and host communities which usually encumber the process of seeking the community’s consent to operate, adding that some licensees don’t carry the people along well. Another, he said, is the absence of a thematic map of the country that can show intricate details such as where the market, Right of Way, reserved areas, etc. in order not to allocate titles in such spots.

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