The Miners Association of Nigeria (MAN) has urged the Federal Government to reconsider its recent 100 percent upward review of royalties and introduction of new rates for mining licences.
Dele Ayanleke, the national president of the association, made the call during a webinar titled, “Leveraging the African mining vision for Nigeria’s mining industry transformation pre-summit event”, organised by the Nigeria Economic Summit Group, (NESG) preparatory to the 30th Economic Summit. The summit is to hold from October 16 to 18, 2024.
BusinessDay recalls that Dele Alake, minister of solid minerals development, had announced the reviewed prices on July 4, 2024.
The minister said there were 268 items in the rates regime, and highlighted the major increases as follows:
“Applicants for mining lease will pay N3 million; reconnaissance permit, N300,000; exploration licence, N600,000; small scale mining licence, N300,000; quarry lease N600,000, and water user permit, N300,000.
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Ayanleke urged the Federal Government to consider a downward review of the cost so as not to discourage genuine investors while seeking to curb the activities of speculators in the sector.
“While the Federal Government called it a review, none of the fees were reviewed downwards, they were all reviewed upwards and very exorbitantly too. The reviews were from 1000 to as high as 10,000 percent increases.
The president maintained that if the current increase was allowed to remain, it would work negatively against the participation of investors in the sector.
Meanwhile, Mansur Ahmed, the co-chair of the NESG, has called for policy reforms in the minerals sector to harness its full potential.
He noted that the Nigeria mining sector had yet to reach its full potential despite efforts by the Federal Government to revive it since 2005.
