The federal government through the Ministry of Steel Development has announced that the sector has generated a 59.6 per cent increase in revenue, surpassing the figures recorded in previous years.
The minister gave the revelation while presenting a review of the solid minerals sector at the ongoing Sectoral Updates Series to mark the First Anniversary of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Administration in Abuja today, May 23, 2024.
According to Alake a total of N16.4 billion was generated from May 2023 to April 2024 against the total target of N10.6 billion. This comprises collections from royalties and fees. This shows an achievement of the sum of N6.7 billion as surplus surpassing the target.
“The ministry generated and collected the sum of N14.94 billion as of the year ended December 31, 2023. This represents 72.1% positive variance and 172.1% performance when compared with the annual budgetary target of N8.7 billion for the year 2023.”
The quantum leap in applications and operations has led to more revenue, surpassing the figures recorded in the previous years by 59.6 percent, he said.
According to the figures, revenue generated in the period under review is N6,203,536,161.00 over N3,886,953,950.00 generated in the corresponding period from May 2022 to April 2023.
Alake stated that the mining cadastre office, mandated to administer the issuance of mining licences, had been repositioned in the last 12 months to improve service delivery and increase revenue generation. The efforts to sanitise its operations led to two revocation exercises. The revocation of 1,619 titles that defaulted in payment of their Annual Service Fees and 912 dormant (inactive) mineral titles.
“These measures have led to increased confidence in the system and more applications. Within the period under review, the Office received 10,534 applications out of which 4,651 applications were received unassisted Online submissions while 5,883 were MCO Online assisted submissions.
Also, a total of 3,177 companies submitted Mineral Title applications for both new Titles and modification of existing Titles. Of these companies; 3,084 were local companies while 93 were companies with international affiliations. In April 2024, not less than 559 new applications were received via the eMC+. The MCO issued 40 new Exploration licences, 71 new Small Scale Mining Licences and Four new Mining Leases.
In the last year, not less than 258 new operational Mining and Quarrying Companies employing over 9,030 people have commenced operations. Compared with 134 new operational Mining/Quarrying Companies with 4,690 employment generation in the corresponding period 2022/2023, 126 more companies have joined and are providing jobs for 4,340 more persons.
Alake added that through the formalization of the Artisanal and small-scale miners, Dele Alake has revealed that a total of 70,650 jobs had been created in the last 1 year.
Other achievements according to the minister, include the establishment of the Nigeria Solid Minerals Corporation, gathering and archiving of huge geological data, promotion of international investments and launch of the Nigeria Mineral Resources Decision Support System among several others.
