Hustle for revenue: FG should systemise operational patterns in solid minerals sector

Nigeria no doubt has come to the rough table of disturbances. From all sides, the challenges before the Country have become deep seated. Questions as to the state of the economy of the Country have recently posed very serious conundrum. Falling profile of revenue for the Country has posed before the government difficult situations.

The need for huge capital investment to strengthen the economy is no doubt topmost in the discourse to change the tides of the economy and positively improve the condition of living for the masses. However, the fund for investment to execute projects of critical needs of concern has recently shrunk as the government now has to hustle for funds.

The fall in revenue has informed a cycle of borrowing, which particularly under the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari led government saw the Country’s public debt profile rising as high as N49.85 trillion, with a record of over 90 percent of the Country’s revenue now going into servicing of debt. The situation has led to seeming debt trap with outcries over what posterity holds for the Country.

The discourse over the necessity to think out of the box has been a non stop phenomenon. Central to the measures of submission has been the call for diversification of the economy to stretch its resting base beyond the monolithic host on oil.

It is known by recent realities that the over-reliance on oil has cut the Country unawares as the accruals from the sector have become too insufficient to cater for the rising demands for the economy to be sustained on a robust profile. Hence, oil has proven its limitations for sustainability of the economy. The look into other sectors has been a notation of recent significance in the discourse of diversification.

Of key recognition has been attention to the solid minerals sector. However, the prevailing state of the sector remains clouded with contradictions which present haphazard deformities. The sector is known to be way back from the order required to muster thriving impetus for robust contribution to the economy on sustainable basis.

Although, the Federal Government has recently eyed solid minerals sector for diversification as the need for stronger revenue base became more pressing, the regulation of the mining sector has been clouded with controversies, particularly bordering on issues relating to illegal operations and licensing, among other intertwined complications.

The issues of floating reflections on the sector have been of deep concern, amidst controversies over illegal operations and the administration of licensing. The conflict of rules and the legal framework for the operations of the sector have been of top concern with conflict of interest as to the symbolic stance of the layer of government bearing what power and what sphere of control. This is particularly conflicting as the position of the Federal Government and the States in regulatory powers have become confusing to stakeholders, a development which recently have recorded lamentation from the part of the latter.

Recently, stakeholders in the mining sector have lamented what they described as an avalanche of Executive Orders, banning mining activities in some States like Ebonyi, Osun, Enugu, Cross River, Taraba and others. Miners under the auspices of Miners Association of Nigeria (MAN), have condemned alleged State Government’s abuse of the Mining Act 2007 and Mining Regulations 2011.

According to them, not quite long after the swearing-in of new governors, the mining industry started witnessing the so called avalanche of Executive Orders, banning mining activities in some States, a development they decried has led to alleged invasion and jailing of staff of registered mining companies. The miners decried that a situation where a group of stakeholders is being stigmatised as the perpetrators of illegality by the holders of coercive machinery of State, is totally unacceptable

The National President, MAN, ‘Dele Ayanleke, in a lamentation expressing the displeasure over alleged invasion and jailing of registered mining company’s staff by Taraba State Government’s task force, had said, “While we appreciate the ambitions of the new leaderships in our various states to accelerate socioeconomic development, leveraging on the nature’s endowments within their domains, it is of no less importance to pursue these ambitions within all extant constitutional and legal frameworks in order not to breed anarchy and constitutional crisis that may render their efforts and those of the national government unproductive.

“Not quite long after the swearing-in of the new governors that the mining industry started witnessing an avalanche of Executive Orders, banning mining activities in some states like Ebonyi, Osun, Enugu, Cross River, Taraba and others. Taraba State Government went as far as setting up a Task Force on illegal mining and deforestation with full authority to arrest, summarily prosecute and sentence anyone found culpable under its own laws.

“Miners Association of Nigeria, as the umbrella body of operators and investors in the solid minerals sector value-chain, has never been, neither would it be, in support of illegal mining operations under any guise. And our resolve to ensure a sanitized mining environment is the reason and motivation for our active collaborations with the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development and its agencies over the years, in the overall interest of our national economy.

“We are, however, of the belief and conviction, that the issue of illegality in the system must be appraised and confronted in the whole. A situation where a group of stakeholders is being stigmatized as the perpetrators of illegality by the holders of coercive machinery of state, is totally unacceptable.

“Section 44(3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and section 1(1) of the Nigeria Minerals and Mining Act (NMMA), 2007, place the ownership of mineral resources and mining regulations in Exclusive Legislative List with enough provisions to address the socioeconomic and environmental concerns of the lower tiers of government.

“By the various provisions of the above instruments, the Federal Government, through her appropriate agencies, is saddled with the oversight responsibility on any mining and minerals related issues; including, but not limited to, mining titles administration. Drawing from the above, Taraba State Government, or any other state/local governments for that matter, does not have the competence to determine the legality of any operator; such competence resides with the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development or any of its agencies, saddled with the various regulatory functions.

“For instance, among the 48 so-called illegal miners now in jail in Taraba State, there are seven members of staff of a company with valid Mining Lease, whose operational site was invaded by operatives of the Task Force.

“The company in question is one of our members by name AAY INTERNATIONAL MINING COMPANY LIMITED, with a valid Mining Lease of 25years tenor and huge investment in exploration, equipment and human capital development. While not being apathetic to the revenue generation drive of our State Governments, it is advisable that they be more guided by the rule of law which they have put themselves under oath to uphold and defend.

“In upholding the rule of law, the NMMA, 2007 and the Mining Regulations, 2011, made enough provisions for special vehicles that can be explored by the lower tiers of government and mining communities to benefit from the exploration of the mineral endowments within their domains and contribute to conversations around policy issues for environmental sustainability of mining activities.”

In the words of Ayanleke, “A nation yearning to fill the investment gaps in developing her natural endowments to boost her economic growth cannot afford to treat the few audacious local investors in the way our state actors are going about it and expect a different result.”

The solid minerals sector no doubt remains a veritable option in the efforts of the government towards economic diversification. However, the approach and coordination of efforts towards the end to optimise the deliverables of the sector is a pertinent subject that must be tailored appropriately with harmonious standards of clear framework to keep the sector rolling for upward growth.

It is pertinent, therefore, if the government would reap the accruables from the solid minerals sector that subsisting regulations be harmonised with clear delineation and demarcation of lines of control as it concerns the layers of government in question.

The economic fundamentals have demanded more capital investment for veritable projects in the Country, of which robust revenue base is sine qua non for execution. Given the reality of shrinking revenue from oil, it is only rational for the Federal Government to set terms of coordination aright for the solid minerals sector as a source to diversify the economy. Hence, it would only be reasonable for the President Bola Tinubu led government to declare a robust framework to tap into the opportunities in the sector by engineering a robust systemic pattern to direct the workings of the sector.