The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, has disclosed that the Mining Cadastre Office has improved its revenue from mining licences from N2.3bn in 2020 to N3.88bn as of October 31, 2021, adding that about 1,566 licences have been revoked.
He disclosed this while giving his keynote address at the fifth edition of the Nigeria Mining Week on Tuesday.
According to the minister, the Mining Cadastre Office has enhanced the process of mineral title acquisition and administration.
He said, “The Mining Cadastre Office has been repositioned to promote transparency in mineral title administration.
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“The processes have been streamlined to enable investors to apply online and obtain licenses and leases within and outside Nigeria. We are also establishing MCO offices in the six geo-political zones. They include Jos, Enugu, Ibadan, Kaduna, Maiduguri, and Benin.
“From the revenue drive perspective, MCO has demonstrated marked improvement despite the challenges of the pandemic.
“It grew its revenue from N2.3bn in 2020 to N3.88bn in 2021 as of October 31st, with two months still remaining in this year to achieve higher revenue.”
The minister attributed the increase in revenue to the introduction of the ‘First Come, First Served’ and ‘Use it or Lose it’ policy in the licensing administration.
He added that this policy “has helped to re-organize, eliminate speculators, and led to the revocation of about 1,566 mineral titles. This has activated many dormant licences and increased revenue inflow into the treasury.”
The PUNCH had exclusively reported in September that about 5,793 inactive mining licences were revoked in six years.
