A recent report has revealed how mineral titles conferred to mining companies in Nigeria dropped by 37 per cent.
According to The PUNCH, a total of 2815 titles which were conferred in 2016 dropped to 1438 in 2021.
In 2019, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Architect Olamilekan Adegbite, reported that the application for solid mineral titles dropped from 2800 in 2016 to 1025.
This record was disclosed at the the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s (retd) regime Scorecard 2015 to 2023 which was the ninth edition organised by the Ministry of Information and Culture.
The mineral titles included mining, exploration, quarry, and small-scale mining licences.
Meanwhile, Director-General of the Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office, Obadiah Nkom, spoke to the State House’s newsmen on January 20, 2023. He said that there is an application principle of “use it or lose it”.
According to him, “How does the system run? Is on use or lose it basis. We’ve had instances where people receive and get licenses and keep these licenses, and they don’t use them. The law is very, very clear on that. What does that mean? We give you the license.
“If you don’t adhere to the provisions of the Act, you lose it. How do you lose it, you lose it by way of revocation and it’s not arbitrary. We give you a notice of default, for you to be able to remedy the defect, we give you 30 days, in line with the law.”
“About 3400 titles initially conferred were revoked in one year,” the DG, mining stated.
In addition to the licensed titles not used, the mining sector in Nigeria has been battling with insecurity.
The Punch reported that this was the reason for the ban of mining in Zamfara.
According to a report last year, the Federal Government planned to stop the use of motorcycles and mining following attack on the Kuje Correctional facility.
About 363 casualties have been recorded during mining activities between the year 2016 and 2022. This was according to a report by The Punch.
