The fees and rates paid by mining industry operators have increased, as a result of actions taken by the Federal Government via the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development.
The price rise was disclosed by Solid Minerals Development Minister Dele Alake during a press conference held on Thursday in Abuja at the ministry’s headquarters.
He added that compliance is required right away and that the government has raised 286 rate regimes in total, ranging from 50% to 100%.
In addition, he issued a warning that licences of defaulters will be cancelled.
The minister stated that the lack of money that operators were returning to the government’s coffers made the study necessary.
According to him, the additional funding will help the government improve how simple it is to conduct business in the industry.
Alake said that all parties had agreed to the hike and that pertinent stakeholders had been included in determining the new tariffs.
What they’re saying
He stated,
“It is therefore fair that those who use these services to invest in the mining sector and profit from it should be on the front lines of the government’s efforts to recoup rather than passing it on to poor Nigerians.”
“Thus, in accordance with the powers conferred on me by the Mining and Minerals Act 2007, I formed a committee of directors of departments and directors-general of agencies under the ministry and charged them with developing new rates to justify governments’ investment in service infrastructures and to deal with the expected meteoric surge in the traffic of applicants besieging the regulatory machinery.
“Today, we are taking a critical step towards implementing the seven-point strategy to reposition the industry and increase international competitiveness by establishing a new regime of rates and charges for various services, ministries, and agencies.
“This is given qualitative measures and technological capacity upgrades implemented in recent times to raise the level of technical efficiency and improve the traffic of transactions and cope with business interest.”
Bottom Line
The government claims the hike is necessary because current fees don’t reflect the value of mining operations. Higher fees could bring in more money for the government.
This revenue could be used to improve infrastructure, support communities affected by mining, or fund further development of the mining sector itself.
