Nigeria’s Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, says over 400 re-validated mining licenses have been issued in line with the provision of the 2007 Minerals and Mining Act.
Speaking on Monday in Abuja, Alison-Madueke said that under the Act, security of tenure of titles was guaranteed by law.
She said that the Act was modeled after successful mining jurisdictions and based on international best practices.
Alison-Madueke also said that the ministry adhered to the “use it or lose it’’ principle in the issuance of titles and that the titles were issued on the basis of first come, first served.
“We decided to do it right this time around by introducing community development agreement, environmental protection and rehabilitation measures,’’ she said.
She added that the government was committed to developing the solid minerals sector in view of its potential.
“To this end, the government has changed from owner-operator to administrator-regulator in other to encourage the private sector to invest in the sector,’’ she said.
Alison-Madueke listed other institutional changes to include various legislation and incentives put in place to attract foreign investment such as the metals policy and mining regulations among others.
Some of the mining titles issued so far include Exploration Licences, Mining Leases, Quarrying Leases and Small-Scale Mining Leases, covering all zones of the federation.
The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development in 2008 commenced a re-validation exercise to screen over 4,000 licenses issued between 2007 and 2008 by the Mining Cadastre Office.
Source African Press Agency
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