*Says agency revokes 3402 licences
By Egena Sunday Ode
The Director-General of Nigeria Mining Cadastre, Obadiah Nkom on Thursday said the agency generated N14.59 billion from 2018 to 2022 from issuance of mining licences.
He made the disclosure to newsmen when he featured at the 63rd session of the ministerial briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to him, the office revoked 3,402 titles that were not used, adding that the agency makes sure that only the rightful people are given licenses.
He also disclosed that the Nigeria’s coal is sought after all over the world.
On the revenue generation, he explained that in 2018, 2019 and 2020, the agency generated N1.55 billion, N2.38 billion and N2.57 billion respectively.
However, between 2021 and 2022, its revenue fell from N4.3 billionn to N3.79 billion respectively, according to him.
Nkom explained that the revenue drop was due to changes in its internal operating system which temporarily affected revenue inflow.
He said that the introduction of Electronic Mining Cadastre was aimed at repositioning the agency, stressing that subsequently, it was going to have a huge increase in revenue generation.
Nkom, who is the Director-General in charge of Rights in the Ministry of Mines further said that 100 percent of the Office’s revenues are sent to the Treasury Single Account, TSA, of the Federal Government.
He also noted that the bulk of the revenue comes from application, processing and annual service fees; which he said constitute 50 per cent of the annual revenue generated from the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.
President Muhammadu Buhari renewed the appointment of Nkom for a second and final term of four years with effect from January 12, 2023.
Nkom, who holds a Higher National Diploma in Mining Engineering from Kaduna Polytechnic was first appointed on January 12, 2019, for an initial period of four years.
In September 2021, a joint Senate committee working on the 2022-2024 Medium-Term Expenditure and Fiscal Strategy Paper, berated the agency’s boss over poor revenue generation.
The committee argued that the nation was bleeding billions of Naira due to the swelling activities of illegal miners under Nkom’s watch.
In the 12 months that followed, the NMCO revoked 3,400 titles, with plans to revoke more in 2023.
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