The Miners Association of Nigeria (MAN) has bemoaned the incidence of multiple taxation on the mining sector, describing the ugly development as capable of undermining government’s current efforts targeted at improving the nation’s ‘Ease-of-Doing-Business’ rating in the sector.
The President of the association, Mallam Sani Shehu, was quoted as expressing the concerns of investors in the sector on excessive taxation during in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) today in Abuja.
He listed some of the taxes being paid by operators as including corporate, taxes, royalty, fees and many others which are not backed up by any enabling legislation..
The mining expert said: “The easy-of-doing-business principle introduced by the Federal Government is to encourage investors, it identifies difficulties and challenges that investors can encounter and how to eliminate them.
“The ministry is yet to address the problem of multiple taxation, and investors in the sector are paying different taxes at the Federal and State levels,” Shehu added.
The miners’ leader also cited the rivalry between the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development (MMSD) and the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) over collection of royalties and other licence fees from sand miners and quarry operators, describing it as unhealthy for sustainable growth of the sector
Investigations showed that both the ministry and the NIWA are currently collecting royalties and other licence fees from sand miners and quarry operators throughout the country.
While the NIWA collects from mining operators who have operations in Nigerian inland waters, the ministry is collecting royalties from both marine operators who are mining sand and prospectors of solid minerals nationwide.
Shehu also hinted that the Ministry of Environment was also collecting fees from miners at the state level, pointing out that it is only the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development that has powers to be collecting mining fees, royalties, issuance of mining titles, among others, in the sector.
