Hon. Bernard Unenge is the Commissioner for Lands, Survey and Solid Minerals in Benue State . In this interview with HENRY IYORKASE in Makurdi, the State capital, Unenge says efforts are underway to bring investors to explore and develop abandoned mineral resources in the state, even as he warns illegal miners to desist from such activities or face prosecution. Excerpts:
What are the efforts of the present administration towards ensuring exploration of solid minerals in the state?
The Benue State Government is actually working out modalities and plans to bring in investors to come and explore the abandoned mineral resources that we have in the state. We are in touch with some investors who have promised to come. Although, they are yet to come, we are hoping that they will be here very soon. So, the State Government is not actually relenting on that. To start every endeavour is not always easy; you need one breakthrough to make a headway. The Ministry of Lands, Survey and Solid Minerals is like a baby ministry. We had the Ministry of Lands and Survey; Solid Minerals was added to it only a year ago. The exploration of minerals is capital intensive and requires huge investment. Given the financial challenges we are facing, we couldn’t just go into it but we are working out something with investors and we will certainly get there.
Government is talking about creating an enabling environment for business to thrive and land is one of the critical factors in doing business. To what extent has government made land available for intending investors?
So far, we have given out some portions of land of different sizes to different investors. We gave out land to Canadian investors (HEPC) – Humanitarian Environmental Project) – who came to set up an agricultural value chain company. We are discussing with the communities between Gwer West and Agatu Local Government Areas that are bounded by the river so that we can secure the land and give it to the investors to set up that company.
We have also given out land to the Federal Economic Zone – that is, State Economic Zone, at Mbalagh; that is about 500 hectares. The survey process of that land is going on right now. We have also given out land to the Federal Fire Service where they want to set up the North Central Zonal office; the survey work has been completed and we are waiting on them to come and pick up their documents. Also, we’ve given out a piece of land to the Federal Character Commission (FCC) for them to build an office here. As at the last time we spoke, the contract modalities were being worked on. We have also given out a piece of land to the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC). They want to build an office at Agan Toll Gate; the land is up to eight hectares. Another piece of land about 4500 square metres that is carved from the land surrounding Government College Makurdi is given to an investor that wants to build a 100-bed hospital to hand over to the state to manage. That contractor is on site and work is ongoing. There are other requests too. We are also working out a piece of land at Agasha in Guma Local Government Area of the State for the Nigerian Navy, about 100 hectares. They want to build an education facility there. We have also allocated about ten hectares of land at Utur for a Housing Estate and if you go there you will find that most of the houses are completed. We also have a request for the extension of Federal Housing Estate to Gboko. We have secured the land – about ten hectares. You can see that we have actually given out land for development.
I believe that the comprehensive nature of the Roadmap was a factor that encouraged the World Bank to grant Nigeria the facility
Your ministry is wearing a new look in spite of the general outcry about finances. How have you been able to achieve this?
This ministry is one of the oldest ministries in the state. At a point, the ministry’s headquarters was like a deserted place. When I came in as Commissioner in April last year, I was challenged by the look of the place and so I approached the Governor and he graciously approved funds for us to do some face-lifting here. That is why you can see that we have fixed the gate; we now have a Gate House too. I believe in a good working environment. I am in total agreement that a good working environment not only in terms of aesthetics motivates staff to work.
In the past, there had been an outcry about the activities of land speculators. How have you been coping with this challenge?
We are aware of the problem and what we have been doing is to educate the people through the press. We are discouraging the people from going to buy land from communities. The reason is that when you go and buy land in an area that has not been planned, you might be so unlucky that the portion of land you buy may be access road. So, it is always good to buy land from an area that is planned already. In checkmating that, we set up planning schemes within Makurdi metropolis. Right now, we are carrying out a layout at Mbaagir, which is towards Apir. We are also working on Mbagbam layout and Mbaadigam layout. All these are targeted at checkmating the activities of land speculators. By the time you plan a place, the activities of land speculators will be checked because allocation papers will be given to the communities so that whoever goes there will buy land that is safe. It is actually not possible for us to completely checkmate this because as you go to the press to announce that people should beware of the activities of these people on one side, they are moving to the other. Within the last one year that I have been here, we are trying our best.
The inability of the state government to harness the solid mineral deposits in the state has left them in the hands of illegal miners.
To what extent would you say that has impacted the economy of the state?
There is no illegal activity that one carries out that has no negative impact on government. When I took over this ministry in May last year, I called the meeting of all small scale miners in the state and we discussed.
We are looking at how we can assist them to form cooperative society andpossibly liaise with the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel to see howthey can get small facilities in terms of loans so that they will get mining license. So, we are aware that in the past, there was no structure on ground to checkmate the activities of these illegal miners but now we are discussing with them to see where we can assist them to legalise their business and also generate revenue for government.
Could you share with us those things you have achieved since your posting to this ministry as Commissioner ?
I will ascribe my achievement in office to the confidence the Executive Governor of Benue State, His Excellency, Samuel Ortom, has reposed in me and the ease of doing business here in the ministry. The bottlenecks that hitherto used to characterise processing of title documents here have been removed. I have constituted a committee that once you apply for processing of your title documents, the committee goes out as a team to carry out survey, the plotting and give me the report as a team. It is no longer the thing that was obtainable in the past where the Department of Land will go and after one or two weeks, the Department of Town Planning will go and the process was prolonged. Now, we have a harmonised process. With the approval given to the ministry by the State Government for a tax holiday, we decided to make the process simpler. Once you apply, in less than one month or, at best , in a month’s time, you have your title documents processed. We are also working on
layouts, which I mentioned earlier. That way, we are opening up more places for allocation to members of the public. I have about three to four that are new: The Mbaagir, Mbagbam, Mbakyaha and then the biggest one in Mbalagh, which is for the State Economic Zone. Then, the cordial working relationship that we have with members of the public: When they have issues and when they come here now, they are attended to because I have set up a Dispute Resolution Committee that handles all cases of disputes. As people come here to report various issues, the committee sits with them and tries to resolve them.
