In furtherance of its sustained efforts to attract new investors to Nigeria’s solid minerals and optimize the huge economic potential for economic growth, the Federal Government on Sunday disclosed that it had revoked 1,263 mineral licences earlier issued to operators in the sector.
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media, Segun Tomori, hinged the government’s decision as aimed at promoting transparency in the sector and enforcing compliance with extant laws.
Specifically, the minister clarified that the revoked titles comprised 584 exploration licenses, 65 mining leases, 144 quarry licenses, and 470 small-scale mining leases.
Based on the revocation, he stated that the affected licences will now be deleted from the Electronic Mining Cadastral System portal of the Nigerian Mining Cadastral Office.
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Alake maintained that the revocation was approved following recommendations from the MCO after the affected companies failed to comply with the mandatory payment of their annual service fees.
He expatiated: “The era of obtaining licences and keeping them in drawers for speculative purposes is over. Financially capable and industrious businessmen who are ready to work should have access to sites. The annual service fee is the minimum evidence of seriousness in mining. Those who are no longer interested in mining are free to return their licenses rather than hold them idle.”
According to him, the revocation of the licences of the affected entities does not offset the debts owed by the defaulting licensees.
Alake stated that rather, the list of defaulters would be forwarded to the anti-graft agency – the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) – for the purposes of recovering their debts and if need be, legal prosecution.
The minister pointed out that doing so “will encourage due diligence and deter speculative activities that clog the licensing system.”
Alake maintained that opening up the areas covered by the revoked licences would open them for applications and attract new investments.
He noted that ongoing reforms in the sector were yielding the desired results in terms of the sector’s performance and expression of interest by new investors despite attempts by defaulters to frustrate the government’s initiatives.
With the latest revocation of additional licences in the sector, the present administration has so far revoked a total of 3,794 mineral titles, including 619 licences revoked last year for failure to pay annual service fees, and 912 licences for dormancy.
