Alake to mining agencies: Duplicity of licences must be addressed

Dele Alake, minister of solid minerals development, says the issue of duplicity of licences must be addressed.

Speaking during his visits to agencies of the ministry, the minister lauded the efforts of the mining cadastral office (MCO), stressing the need to do more in addressing public complaints.

In a statement on Wednesday by Segun Tomori, the minister’s special assistant on media, Obadiah Nkom, MCO’s director-general, reiterated the agency’s functions as an issuer of mining licences in his welcome address.

He said the MCO digitised its operations in 2022 with an online platform called the electronic mining cadastral system.

Although the new platform resulted in a significant increase in the number of applications, he said there have been delays in processing applications due to backlogs from the old system.

Nkom assured the minister that efforts are being made to fine-tune and improve the processes in collaboration with the World Bank-assisted mineral sector support for economic diversification (MinDiver).

In his response, Alake charged the agency to reverse the current perception of its operations.

“The public puts this agency in the prism of the entire ministry. Since I assumed office, 90 percent of all issues that have come to my table on the entire solid mineral activities have been connected to the MCO, whether complaints, commendations, infractions or otherwise,” he said.

“The issues around the multiplicity or duplicity of licences and perceived underhand dealings traceable to the agency must be addressed. The perception must change. We will not hesitate to wield the big stick where necessary if the agency does not reform itself.”

At the Nigeria Geological Survey Agency (NGSA), Abdulrasak Garba, director-general of the organisation, while welcoming the minister, said the agency has been a crucial part of the generation of geoscientific research information for the development of the mining sector in line with its mandate.

He also said the NGSA is in charge of producing geological, geophysical, and geochemical maps of Nigeria.

Garba cited funding constraints as a challenge, appealing for the minister’s intervention.

In response to Garba’s comments, Alake said aside from the mining sector, the functions of NGSA extend to all sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing, and industrial development.

“I must say you are doing a good job generating a lot of relevant data that are critical for informed decisions by decision-makers, entrepreneurs in all fields,” he said. 

“I have gone through the literature submitted during my initial briefing, and I can see at a glance the functions that you do.

“I am quite glad that you have been living up to the billing and performing quite effectively but there is always room for improvement.

“These days of paucity of funds, as you mentioned, it becomes imperative that we become genius in our creative endeavours.

Alake said the agency needs to start thinking of how to become independent, as there is no reason NGSA cannot be self-sustaining because what it generates is in demand.