Transparency in mineral title administration is a determinant factor in the level of development witnessed in Nigeria’s mineral and mining sector, the federal government has said.
The director general of the Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office (NMCO), Engineer Obadiah Nkom, made this comment at the sidelines of the 8th Nigeria Mining Week in Abuja, which attracted policy makers, local and foreign investors and other stakeholders to discuss the challenges and opportunities in Nigeria mining sector. .
He stated that as the country’s mineral title administration is reliable and evokes confidence, it will attract more local and foreign investors.
“If licensing is not transparent enough, then there is no way it will be able to actually attract the needed investment, particularly in the sector. And as long as we get it wrong in the mining, title administration, then it becomes a big problem.
“But as it relates to mining licences, we work closely with the nation’s Transparency Initiative because once title administration, like I said, is not transparent then there’s no way people will be able to come and invest.”
The MCO boss also spoke about mining title holders who are inactive and said there are laws guiding licence withdrawals.
“There is the concept of people having licences or not actually using it. There are two ways you can lose a licence, first of all, nonpayment of one or service fees. And the second one is dormant activities in addition to other obligations which are spelled out clearly in the app. That is why one of our key principles in the mining cadastre is “Use it or lose it” because at the end of the day, if you don’t use the licence, you lose it,” Nkom explained.
He explained that some of the inactive title holders may actually lack the technical capacity or the required funding to proceed with exploration.
“After six months or one year you’ll find out that they needed funding, whatever support, and they couldn’t get it. So at the end of the day, it affects their activities,” he said, adding that if it is a case of insecurity in the affected sites, the affected title holders should bring their situation to the MCO in writing and the issue will be adequately looked into because both parties are in ongoing collaboration.
According to him, some licences can be suspended for a while in line with the laws.
He emphasised that the Mining Cadastre Office is operating the EMC plus as an online platform for transparency.
“What I see in the mining industry is what you see even in your phones or even back in Canada or anywhere in the world. And as such, once you are able to now have that system in place, which is one of its kind – it is going to boost investments in the sector” Nkom said, adding that the online platform had recorded up to 40 percent unaided applications by interested persons.
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