Nigerian Mining Cadastre Office, MCO, has said that it revoked and erased over 4,709 licences kept by hoarders and speculators to exploit unsuspecting investors. This was made known by the Director-General, MCO, Engr Obadiah Nkom, during a live conversation on X (formerly Twitter) with the theme ‘A deep dive into the Mining Cadastre Office: Driving transparency and order in Nigeria’s solid minerals sector’ stating that the essence of the action is to ensure transparency and accountability, and also as a way to attract potential investors into the solid minerals sector. He said the revocation came after the MCO identified 4,709 licences, including 1,400 expired titles, 2,338 refused applications and 971 notifications of grant where applicants failed to pay. According to him, the sanitization covered expired, speculative, and inactive titles, which the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake revoked those licences.
He further stated that the clean-up was basically a signal sent to speculators who hoard mineral licences that they are not welcomed in the solid minerals sector, because they are clog in the wheels of the efforts of the Tinubu-led administration to attract serious and genuine investors to the sector, and that investors now have confidence in Nigeria’s solid minerals sector. He said “when you talk about backlog, for now, the ministry has had reasons to actually clear or revoke close to 4,709 mineral licenses. There were implementations in terms of revoked expiring titles of up to 1,400 licenses. We have had reasons to refuse applications in the system, 2,338. We have had a mineral title notification of 971. Can you imagine 971 notifications of grants that were notified, but did not come to pay? There are even instances where some people have collected the grants, but they refuse to pay. So what do we do? So this cleaning exercise that we are doing is to be able to now create that space in the minefield for people. So, imagine having over 4,709 erased from our system by way of revocations implemented. It has sanitised our sector, and investors now know that if they are not going to be involved in exploration and value addition, there will be consequences.
“We are cautious. We follow the law. And this is why I repeat, we have had 100 per cent success in litigations because we are an agency compliant with the provisions of the Act. Where we are wrong, we are not shy away from trapping ourselves and doing the right thing. I would hope that at the end of the day, we will not have any risk by following the provisions of the Act because there are some people who you find out that they have collected, they have too many licenses, and are not contributing to the sector. The was the view of the minister in terms of those fees reviewed. Again, like I said from the beginning, it is to be able to sanitise the sector.
Not allowing somebody to have plenty of licenses. And after all, you say, how much is the total fee for renewal per year and since the amount was small.
“They just kept hold of it. But now, many of them have had to relinquish their licenses. Surrender their licenses. And I can tell you that there are citizens out there who come in, and then when they look at the system, they look at those things, they really are overpopulated with licenses. And then, unfortunately, you find the license there. You find somebody calling some people, maybe he has never heard of them. You say, Oh, you want this license, that is completely over, that period is over. People are now coming to surrender their licenses because it’s toxic for them, and this is the sanity that is needed.” Meanwhile, the DG sent strong warning to people who parade themselves as staff of MCO but are impostors as they will soon be arrested and prosecuted if they don’t stop their criminal activities.
According to him (Nkom), the Department of State Services, DSS, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, have been duly informed to track, arrest and prosecute the impostors. He also saidthat in a bid to protect investors and their investments, his Agency partnered with the Corporate Affairs Commission on real-time verification system to ensure that only legally registered companies could obtain mineral titles, which also are required to present bank statements and letters. “We are going to bite, and bite hard. These impersonators deceive innocent investors by giving the impression that they are staff of the cadastre. They collect money and documents illegally, tarnishing the image of the sector. We appreciate legitimate consultants and company representatives, but no one should impersonate us. The era of touts and fraudsters thriving around our offices is over. The CAC has given us the API to instantly confirm, in real time, whether a company is legally registered. If not, the application cannot move forward. Beyond that, applicants must also present bank statements and letters to demonstrate financial capacity”, he added.
He maintained that the reforms under the Tinubu administration and the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, were not to stifle the sector but make it transparent and attractive to investors in a sustainable manner. “Government reforms are attracting more companies. Foreign investor interest is rising, while local small-scale operators are also organising themselves into cooperatives. Mining is no longer seen as just breaking stones; it is now big business”, he said. He also said all litigations have recorded 100 per cent success, “We have 100 per cent success in litigations because we follow the law. That is why the courts uphold our actions. The mineral sector is no longer what it used to be before. We are repositioning it for the growth of Nigeria”, he added.
