By ABAH ADAH
Stakeholders under the Miners Association of Nigeria, MAN, have expressed concern over some developments in the minerals and mining sector that are counter-productive in the ongoing efforts by government to reposition the sector for economic diversification and national development.
Briefing the press yesterday in Abuja, the group, comprising Presidents of Associations of Investors and Professionals, representing the critical mass of mining companies, investors and professionals in the industry, led by the President of MAN, Dele Ayanleke, however highlighted and lauded some key achievements of the Minister of Solid Minerals Development since assumption of office, including the establishment of the geoscience data infrastructure, upgrading and automation of the Mining Cadastre Office, MCO, system through an Electronic Mining Cadastre (eMC+) platform for online processing, and closing of the Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification (MinDiver) project.
The President, Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society, NMGS, Professor Akinade Olatunji, who delivered the address, said after due and critical consideration of the trends of events in the sector, they decided to draw the government’s “attention to some unwholesome developments that are of grievous concern to stakeholders and offer recommendations for urgent remediation to arrest a further drift of the sector which has not fully resurged from the coma of decades long abandonment”.
First on the eight issues raised by the group was unbridled interference of state governments in mining operations within their territories as they allegged that virtually all the states of the federation have in the past few years indulged in acts that have snowballed into control and regulation of mineral operations within their territories, thus interfering with the activities of duly licensed operators across the country.
These interferences are manifest in several forms including: establishment of ministries, departments or agencies, MDAs, for minerals and mining by state governments and requesting that all duly licensed operators should register with such state-run MDAs; closure of operational sites using law enforcement agents and task forces not known to extant industry regulations; confiscation of lawfully mined products from operators without reasons; brutalisation of personnel of operators in some instances, vandalisation and setting on fire of hard-earned equipment; and using the state apparatus to institute frivolous court cases against operators,” the group explained.
They noted that the development is in breach of the provisions of the extant law and the Mining Act 2007 which placed the administration and regulation of mining operations on the shoulders of the federal government, hence it should be addressed forthwith in the overall interest of economic development.
The group also faulted what it called non-involvement of stakeholders in the ongoing review of mining laws
“As stakeholders, we wish to point your attention to the fact that the process of the review of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2007 and the consideration of the two Bills to establish Mining Company/Corporation/Authority before the National Assembly is not all-encompassing enough to capture the opinions of a broad spectrum of industry stakeholders,” Prof. Olatunji noted.
According to him, the all-inclusive approach adopted in the past led to the formulation of the present Mining Policy that birthed the enactment of the NMMA 2007 and NMMR 2011, resulting in widely acceptable law and regulations touted as an excellent piece of legislation even by foreign investors.
“Given the passage of time since 2007 and the many developments that took place in the sector over the years, it is believed that certain amendments to the 2007 legislation may be due. However, it would be helpful if key stakeholders are consulted for input into the emerging legislation as more fundamental issues need attention as opposed to what is being proposed by the National Assembly,” the group submitted.
They equally kicked that the recent upward review of the rates of fees, rents and royalties in the mineral resources sector was done without consultation with stakeholders, irrespective of the well-publicised claim to the contrary.
