BY FRANCIS KADIRI, ABUJA
THE Federal Government has encouraged states of the federation to consider investing in the mining sector as registered corporate entities, warning that no state government has the right to aggregate mineral resources within its domain to its own use.
It said that exploitation and exploration of solid minerals would contribute to the realisation of Government’s set goal of economic diversification.
A statement signed by the Head, Press and Public Relations in the Ministry, Etore Thomas, explained how revenue from the solid mineral sector is channeled to states for national development.
“Like in the oil and gas sector, revenues generated from mineral resources are paid into the federation account, and shared among the states during the monthly meeting of the Federation Allocation Account Committee (FAAC),” he said, adding that 13 per cent derivation was paid on mineral resources exploitation from minerals producing states as done in the oil and gas sector.
The statement added, “It is in line with this that the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development is saddled with the responsibility of identifying the nation’s solid minerals, advising government on the formulation and execution of laws and regulations guiding the various stages of prospecting, quarrying and mining; and handling sale and consumption of solid minerals in the country, through the issuance of permit, licences, leases and collection of rents, fees and royalties.
“As part of strategies to implement policies in the Mining Sector to broaden revenue generation and employment opportunities in line with the economic diversification agenda of this administration, the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative (PAGMI) is being implemented.”
According to the ministry, the components of the initiative include formalisation of artisanal miners into cooperatives in order to integrate their activities into the economic and institutional framework that will eliminate illegality.
Buying Centres and Aggregators, it added, were being registered in order to provide market access for artisanal miners and related operators.
The Federal Government therefore encouraged all State Governments to participate in the exploitation of minerals in the country, by incorporating their respective Limited Liability Companies with which to approach the government for a licence for Mining or Buying Centres.
The Ministry said every State Government-owned corporate body must go through the normal processes for approval and issuance of licence, adding that the licence would permit such companies to exploit minerals in any given location known as Cadastre Unit.
