FG to establish zonal cadastre offices for mining license
FG to establish zonal cadastre offices for mining license
The Federal Government said it will establish zonal cadastre offices in the six geopolitical zones of the country to tackle the bottlenecks in mining licensing.
The Minister of Solid Mineral Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi stated this in Kaduna
during a two-day national consultative meeting on validation of road map for
the solid mineral sector.
Fayemi explained that the 2007 Mining Act provides that the mining cadastral office to open functional zonal offices, noting that no
such offices have been established.
According to him, the zonal offices would serve as the necessary bridge required by
states to issue licenses in the area of solid mineral development.
“With the current commitment to develop the solid mineral sector, we do not have a choice, but to do just that.
“This will prevent the governments from confusing potential investors by creating several layers of licensing in the operation of
mineral resources development.”
He added that the FederalGovernment has set up a committee to design a roadmap for solid mineral development, chaired by Prof. Ibrahim Garba, the Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University.
He explained that the road map was designed to ensure orderly and sustainable
development of Nigeria mineral resources through a well planned and coherent strategy in the exploitation of mineral resources.
“The map also established procedure for monitoring development in the sector
and suggested ways to attract private sector
investment among others”.
The minister said that the main goal was to ensure that the solid mineral sector regains its relevance in revenue generation and job
creation.
“What is proposed is located within the African mining vision and global best practices, with what we should do in the immediate, short and long-term to ensure the development of the sector.
“All the necessary factors that will make this dream a reality are contained in the road map.
“This debate will further enrich and deepened the road map; we need your
inputs to enrich it, “he told the stakeholders.
Also speaking, Mr. Olasunpo Sashore, in a keynote address entitled, “Building a strong Federal-State Relationship for sustainable
growth in the Mining Sector,” said there was no free flow of information on mining.
Sashore, a former Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice in Lagos State,
agreed that cadastre office must be decentralized to bring information closer to
the people.
“We must begin to look at open government because information is not flowing
freely, “he said.
He identified challenges affecting the mining sector to include jealousy of
jurisdiction, confrontation of might slight, low domestic and foreign investment and
infrastructural gap.
“There is also legal risk uncertainty, illegal mining and community actions
among others.”
He attributed the current vandalism of oil installation in the Niger Delta region to land use act, adding that the land use act must be reviewed to avoid a replica of community action in the solid mineral sector.
“In oil and gas, the communities moved from concern to trespass; from trespass to agitation; form agitation to community
action and then moved to full blown insurgency and now outright sabotage.
“Right now, in the solid mineral industry, we are at the level of community concern and community action.
“Let’s not wait till we get there in the mining
industry. The roadmap should address these
problems so the solid mineral sector does not fall victims of what is happening
in the oil sector, “Sashore said.
He also suggested that the federal and state
government should partner in developing the sector and share the royalty proceeds
equally.
Earlier, Gov. Nasiru El-Rufai while declaring the meeting open, described solid mineral development as a wtop priority of the current All Progressive Congress (APC) led-administration to improve the well-being of
the people.
“I am confident that the round table discussion would be productive and the result will lead to a review of the regulation of solid mineral development in
Nigeria, “El-Rufai said.
