By Tunde Sholanke
The federal government revoked 3,402 mining licences in the country.
Director-General of Nigeria Mining Cadastre, Obadiah Nkom,disclosed this on Thursday, at the Presidential Villa Abuja, where he featured at the 63rd session of the ministerial briefing, organized by the Presidential Media Team
He disclosed that the government revoked the licences because they were not being exploited,adding that the agency ensures that only the rightful people who are ready to use the allotted titles are given license.
According to him,earnings accrued to Nigeria government coffers from issuance of mining licences between 2018 and 2022 was N14.59billion.
He also disclosed that the Nigeria coal is sought after all over the world.
He explained that in 2018, 2019 and 2020, the agency generated N1.55 billion, N2.38 billion and N2.57 billion respectively.
But, between 2021 and 2022, its revenue fell from N4.3 billion to N3.79 billion respectively,he said,adding that the revenue drop was due to changes in its internal operating system which temporarily affected revenue inflow.
He disclosed 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 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 bulk of the revenue come 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.