Revenue Loss: Commission To Block Loopholes In Mining Sector

The federal government has lamented that despite the expansion of activities in the country’s mining sector, it contributes only a negligible amount to the federation account, largely due to the lack of proper and effective monitoring of mining activities.

It vowed to ensure that all mining sector revenues due to the federation account are promptly remitted.

The chairman of Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Mr Mohammed Shehu, stated this in Asaba, Delta State at a sensitisation on the implementation of a new solid mineral data rendition template for effective revenue monitoring.

Shehu, represented by the federal commissioner representing Delta State on the board, Martin Egharhevwa, said, ”The implementation of the new data rendition template could not have come at a better time, given the current economic difficulties our country is experiencing at the moment”

“The need to diversify the nation’s revenue sources cannot be overemphasised, primarily because of the perpetual over-dependence on hydrocarbon sources of revenue, which is often plagued by the vagaries of the international oil market, in addition to other reasons, which include shut-ins resulting from pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft.

”That is why the present administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has placed the harnessing of revenue potential from other sectors of the country’s economy, solid minerals, agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, blue economy, etc, at the front burner to broaden the country’s revenue base,” he said.

In his welcome address, the chairman, Solid Mineral Monitoring Committee, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Ibrahim Shettima, said the sensitisation was prompted by the need to bridge the observed gaps in the rendition of timely and accurate revenue data on a State-by-State basis by agencies of government and operators in the solid mineral sector.

Shettima said, ”The exercise is also primarily aimed at ensuring the existence of a platform for an independent data source for the commission, which would be free of summation errors and can be used for comparison and as advanced information for attribution purposes.”

The representatives of Rivers, Bayelsa and Cross River State governments used the occasion to highlight the solid mineral deposits in their respective states, which, according to them, were under-estimated and needed to be harnessed for the development of their states and the country.