The Federal Government has revoked another 924 mineral titles due to inactivity at the mining sites.
Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, who announced the revocation on Wednesday at a press briefing in Abuja, said some of the affected persons were in the habit of licence racketeering where they procure the titles at cheap government rates only to resell at exorbitant rates to genuine mining firms.
LEADERSHIP reports that the federal government had in November 2023 revoked 1,633 mineral titles for failure to pay statutory charges, fees and dues to the government through the Mining Cadastral Office.
Licence holders who have not resumed work on their mining projects were also advised to proceed to site.
Also, late December, the Alake warned that government was going to revoke more mining titles and told their holders to abide strictly by the rules, stating that the authorities were not ready to brook any kind of infractions.
The minister hinted, however, that owners of the affected licences can make a restitution by paying fines within 30 days to regain their titles if they show seriousness.
Addressing journalists at the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday, Alake said: “On that occasion, I explained that one of the obstacles to the development of the sector was licence racketeering. This is carried out by persons who obtain licences over cadastral units that they know have minerals of commercial value. Rather than mobilise men, money and materials to site, they pollute the market by engaging in speculation and offering the licences to the highest bidder.”
He stated that such practices have serious consequences to the industry and the country’s effort to bring in foreign investors to uplift the country’s economy.
He said: “First, serious businessmen ready to move to site are barred from making use of such sites because the concept of first come, first served means that the place has been acquired. The country loses a lot of foreign direct investment on account of this sabotage.
“Second, by creating a secondary, black market to pawn mineral licences, the unsuspecting and unwary investor is misled into believing that he can only obtain licence by patronising the black market. This gives our country a bad image abroad and discourages investment.
“Thirdly, from feedbacks, the amount at which these licences are sold are so huge compared to their costs, such that the funds which they could have used to initiate serious exploration or mining are spent on speculators,” he said.
Alake declared that Nigeria’s mining sector cannot continue to suffer low investment on account of the despicable activities of persons who buy licences of promising mine sites to resell to genuine mining firms.
To curtail this undesirable practice, the minister said the federal government has taken the option of revoking dormant licences by following extant laws.
He went on: “In line with constitutional provisions, we ensured that adequate notice was given to the concerned parties through the official gazette of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria no. 227 which was published on December 27, 2023.
“This notice gave all concerned parties 30 days to regularise their status, including clarifications on what caused the licence to be dormant.”
The minister, however revealed that although a total of 963 licencees were published and notified of the threat of revocation, no fewer than 39 either moved to resume mining operatons on their sites immediately or convinced the authorities of the challenges which hindered their operations.
Consequently, the minister said 39 license holders were exempted from the punitive action.
“In view of the above which shows our adherence to due process and fair consideration and in line with the standard policy of use it or lose it, I hereby revoke the 924 dormant licences with immediate effect,” Alake declared.
A breakdown of the affected titles show that 528 are exploration licences, 20 are mining leases and 101 are quarry licences, while 273 are small scale mining licences.
The minister further disclosed that investors from across the globe are now free to apply for any of the affected cadastral units on the basis of first come, first served.
According to him, the action was taken along the lines of sanitising the licensing system by penalising those who have commercialised the opportunities offered by the sector and turned it into a bazaar.
Alake reiterated that Nigeria was open to business for smart, serious and adventurous investors to establish their businesses and create wealth for themselves and Nigeria as well as provide jobs for the youth.
