Grapevine

Stakeholders lament states’ interference in mining

The associations, which included the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society, Miners Association of Nigeria; Women In Mining In Nigeria; Nigeria Society of Mining Engineers; National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture; Gemstones Miners and Marketers Association of Nigeria; ECOWAS Federation of Chambers of Mines; Association of Miners and Processors of Barite and Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, stated that the actions of some state governments are not only a disservice to the efforts of the federal government at attracting foreign investors to the sector but inimical to the growth of the industry which has not fully resurged from the coma of decades-long abandonment.

The spokesperson for the Concerned Stakeholders of the Minerals and Mining Sector, Professor Akinade Olatunji, said the situation in the industry required urgent attention from the Federal Government as the unwholesome developments in the sector could extinct life it.

According to Olatunji, the excessive interference of state governments in mining operations within their jurisdictions goes against the provisions of the Constitution of the country and the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act of 2007, which give the Federal Government exclusive ownership and control of mineral resources, and this interference is a major obstacle in the sector.

He said, “Contrary to the inviolate provisions of the CFRN and NMMA 2007, virtually all the states of the Federation have in the past few years embarked upon concerted processes and activities that have crept into the control and regulation of mineral operations within their territories, interfering in the process with the activities of duly licensed operators across the country.

“These interferences manifest in several forms, including the establishment of ministries, departments or agencies for minerals and mining by state governments and requesting that all duly licensed operators register with such state-run MDAs, closure of operational sites using law enforcement agents and task forces not known to exist in industry regulations.