President Tinubu’s Government has revoked 924 Mining Licenses over inactivity.
NaijaOnPoint Nigeria reports that President Bola Tinubu’s federal government on Wednesday, April 24, announced the revocation of 924 dormant mining licenses across the country as part of its efforts at sanitising the mining sector.
Announcing the revocation, the minister of solid minerals development, Dele Alake at a press conference in his office in Abuja, said exploration, mining, small-scale mining, and quarrying licenses were involved.
This is coming on the heels of the revocation of 1,663 mining licences last November for failure by the licensees to pay statutory charges, fees, and dues to the federal government.
Revocating the licences, the minister said the action was in line with constitutional provisions, adding that adequate notice was given to all concerned parties through the official Gazette of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, No. 227, which was published on December 27, 2023.
According to the minister, “The notice gave all concerned parties 30 days to regularise their status, including clarifications on what caused the license to be dormant. Thus, although a total of 963 licensees were published and notified of the threat of revocation, no fewer than 39 either moved to the site immediately or convinced the authorities of the challenges hindering their operations.”
A breakdown of revoked 928 dormant licenses showed that 528 exploration licenses; 20 mining leases; 101 quarry licenses, and 273 Small Scale Mining Licenses (SSML) were affected.
Speaking further, the Minister stated that the action followed due process and fair consideration whilst it underscores the commitment of the Federal Government to implement the standard policy of “Use it or Lose it” as enshrined in mining guidelines.
In light of the development, Alake said: “Investors across the globe are now free to apply for any of the affected Cadastral Units on the basis of “first come, first served. It is our belief that this decision will sanitise the licensing system by penalising those who have commercialised the opportunities offered by the sector into a bazaar.”
Noting that the revocation is not meant to be punitive, the Minister announced an opportunity for affected licensees to make restitution, imposing fines for different categories of revoked licenses, stressing that this also applies to the 1,633 titles revoked last year for default in payment of annual service fees.
“For revoked Mining Licenses, a fine of N10m applies; N7.5m for Small Scale Mining License (SSML) while N5m for Exploration License (EL). They will be required to make the payments within 30 days to qualify for consideration, “Alake emphasised.
NaijaOnPoint Nigeria reports that the minister then warned that henceforth, the Federal Government will not tolerate the nefarious activities of license racketeering or those that obtain licenses for speculation to offer them to the highest bidder.
“A good lesson from this exercise is for investors to do their homework and be ready to flag off their projects as soon as they obtain licenses. Nigeria is open for business, and we shall encourage smart, serious, and adventurous investors to set up and provide jobs to our teeming youths,” Alake added.