The Federal Government says it will stop the operations of mining companies that fail to fulfill the requirements contained in their Community Development Agreement (CDA) to their mining communities.
The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr Olamilekun Adegbite, said this when he featured atforum in Abuja.
Adegbite said the ministry was an umpire to ensuring that communities do not over step their bound by distructing companies’ activities, and that tne companies fulfilled their obligation as encoded in the CDA.
The minister described CDA as a set of graduated promises which covered five years, where a company agrees with a community what to do for them like road infrastructure, potable water, and scholarships among othersq.
According to him, if we find out that any company’s consent is fake, the company will bprosecuted to the full extent of the law and that is perjury which attracts 14 years imprisonment.
”Before a mining company can work, they must have a CDA unless its an illegal operation.
”The first thing a company does before you do mining is to get consent from the people you want to mine on their land.
”This consent is not just obtained with the word of mouth, it must have a sworn affidavit in the court to say that it was obtained and is genuine.
”Once you have the consent of the people to mine on their land and they allow you, you have to tell them the benefits that will come to them.
”The company will now come back to us and we will issue you a licence but before you commence operations, you will have the Community Development Agreement (CDA).
” If you don’t have it, you can’t begin operation.
”The ministry is now an umpire to make sure that while the community does not over step its bound by distructing the activities, the company fulfils its obligation as encoded in the CDA.
”Once you have agreed to a CDA, if the company does not do it, you stop them from working,” he said.