The Nigeria Mining Cadastre Workplace (NMCO) has disclosed that it issued about 7,000 mining licenses, but lower than 1,000 mines are lively.
NMCO’s Director Normal, Obadiah Nkom, revealed this on Tuesday when he acquired the Home Committee on Stable Minerals, led by Chairman Jonathan Gaza, on the NMCO workplace in Abuja.
NMCO is an company beneath the Federal Ministry of Stable Minerals Growth.
Nkom referred to as for reforms to deal with the issuance of mining licence charges and the possession of mining titles so as to sanitize the sector.
Highlighting the discrepancy in license issuance, he stated, “We shouldn’t have 7,000 licenses with lower than 1,000 lively mines,” in response to NAN.
He lamented that regardless of the company gathering over N8 billion in income as of October 2024, it faces insufficient funding, which negatively impacts its operations.
Nkom appealed to the committee to deal with this challenge, noting that NMCO generated greater than 50 p.c of the sector’s income however lacked assortment charges.
He talked about that NMCO had made important strides in digitization, transitioning from an intranet to a web-based platform for world entry and transparency.
Nkom additionally assured of sustained collaboration with the Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee (EFCC), citing the event of an anti-money laundering unit inside the company.
Among the mineral assets these mining websites discover throughout Nigeria embody coal, gold, iron, limestone, zinc, beryl, lithium, columbite, and lead, amongst others.
In response, Gaza expressed issues concerning the licensing course of, particularly the problem of consent.
He famous that regardless of the massive variety of licenses issued, unlawful mining stays prevalent in Nigeria.
Gaza agreed that the company was underfunded, assuring Nkom that the committee would current the scenario to the Minister of Stable Minerals Growth, Dr. Dele Alake, for applicable motion.
On September 2, 2024, Dele Alake assured Nigerians that the ministry and its companies are devoted to sanitizing the mining sector.
“A key aspect of my dedication to eliminating unlawful mining is enhancing our Mining Marshals’ operations by know-how and satellite tv for pc monitoring.
“I urge anybody concerned in unlawful mining to adjust to the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act (NNMA) and regularize their operations. Our resolve to take decisive motion in opposition to unlawful actions is unwavering, and we are going to keep zero tolerance for any type of illegality,” he tweeted.
In September, the federal authorities charged suspected unlawful miners arrested in Kogi and Ondo states.
The suspects included two Chinese language nationals and a Nigerian in Kogi, together with 4 suspects caught illegally mining gold in Ondo’s Ogunlepa Forest Reserve.
