ABUJA – Mr Mohammed Amate, the Director-General, Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office, on Wednesday in Abuja, said the organisation would in 2015 begin the registration and payment of all the mineral titles [pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
online.
Amate, who disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the office had already engaged the service of a consultant and the work had gone advanced.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”8″]
He said the office would this year establish a website, where investors across the globe could register and pay for their mineral title online without coming to the office.
“What we intend to do this year; you can sit down anywhere, Google or go into our website and see those areas that you can apply for or not.
“This is a major thing we are trying to do. We have consultant that is working on that. What we are doing now you can apply online without coming to the office.
“We have already reached an advanced stage and this year you can simply submit your application online and pay whatever fees online and you will be granted,’’ he said.
He said that the mineral titles covered exploration, mining, quarry, small-scale mining, among others.
The director-general said the office had generated N800 million in 2014 through issuance of 4,027 different mineral titles in the country.
He said the office had planned to generate N1 billion in 2015 through issuing of additional 1,000 mineral titles.
Amate said previously at any of the international conferences, only Ghana, Mali, Buki Fuso and Tanzania were always mentioned as mining destination in Africa but today, Nigeria had joined them.
“Now, there is no conference you will attend that Nigeria is not mentioned as a mining country; that means Nigeria is now in the mining map unlike before.
“We have started receiving a lot of international communities coming to look for minerals in Nigeria which is a very good achievement,’’ he said.
Amate said some junior mining companies from Australia, Canada and UK, which would look for the available minerals and expose them to bigger companies, were already carrying out detaiedl exploration programmes in the country.
“The companies will take it to the international world. So, I think the government has done tremendously well in trying to bring this nation to be one of the major mining destinations in Africa.’’
Amate said that the government had approved fiscal regime for mining sector, to attract more investors and avoid multiple taxation from the operators.
He said that mining had made a lot of impacts in the country, as it had begun to contribute significantly to the nation’s GDP and a major employer of labour.
“At National Bureau of Statistics, you observe that unlike before, mining is now contributing significantly, mainly through taxes.
“We are trying to bring royalties down in line with what is obtainable mainly in West African countries, to attract more foreign investors,’’ he said.
Amate said all the minerals available in Nigeria were equally accessible in West African countries and only the incentives could attract more investors to come into the country.
“This is why we try to limit our royalties to what is obtainable in West African countries and you can find out that we are in line with what is available to attract the required investors,’’ he said. (NAN)
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