Issuance of mining licences ‘will soon take 30 days’ — not three months

The ministry of mines and steel development says issuance of mining titles will soon be reduced to between 30 and 45 days as stipulated in the Nigerian Mining and Minerals Act, 2007.

Kayode Fayemi, the minister, disclosed this at the ongoing 2nd Nigerian Mining Week, organised by the Miners Association of Nigeria, in partnership with IPAD Nigeria, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Spintelligent.

This held in Abuja on Tuesday.

The issuance of title to investors used to take as long as three months and above with a lot of follow-ups from such investors.

But Fayemi said there is a significant improvement in the mining cadastre office (MCO) administration of mineral titles.

He said this is as a result of reforms put in place by the federal government, citing the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) headed by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo as one of such reforms.

He added that it was gratifying to note that Nigeria had made remarkable improvements in both hard risk and perceived risk factors.

“The Nigerian Mining jurisdiction is now considered to have a better investment risk profile than Russia, China, India and several other leading jurisdictions. Nigeria is now perceived to have a better investment risk profile than New York,” Fayemi said.

“Our efforts in the sector are being well complemented by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).

“We seek to rebuild market confidence in our minerals and mining sector and win over domestic users of industrial minerals in order to achieve import substitution.

“We are therefore pleased to see improvements in perceptions about the Nigerian Mining Jurisdiction. It has been our objective to turn the tide of popular but inaccurate narratives about Nigeria, by emphasising the strong points about the Nigerian mining sector that are seldom taken into account by the international community.”

Fayemi advised the federal government to gear up for the impending boom in lead and lithium, following plans by some western countries to embrace renewable energy.

“We have an advantage because renewable energy is about lead and lithium and other metals which we have in abundance. Federal government should put in place a strategy for the coming boom,” he said