Alake Harps On Adherence To Due Process

By Georgina Humphrey

Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Oladele Alake has called for reforms and adherence to due process in the sector in conformity with the Tinubu Administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
 
Dr. Alake stated this during a familiarization tour of agencies under the ministry, in Abuja.

At the Mining Cadastral Office (MCO), the minister lauded efforts of the agency as the custodian of mineral titles in the country stressing the need for the MCO to do more in addressing perceived inadequacies.

According to him, progress in the mining sector is contingent on the activity or inactivity of the MCO.

Alake urged the agency to improve on its productivity, emphasizing that whatever infractions committed by MCO, has an effect on the ministry, as it is the major agency that interfaces with the public.

“The public puts this agency in the prism of the entire ministry. Since I assumed office, 90% of all issues that have come to my table on the entire solid mineral activities have been connected to the MCO, whether complaints, commendations, infractions, or otherwise” he stressed.

“The issues around multiplicity or duplicity of licenses and perceived underhand dealings traceable to the agency must be addressed. The perception must change, we will not hesitate to wield the big stick where necessary, If the agency does not reform itself, Dr. Alake added.

Also at the Nigeria Geological Survey Agency, NGSA, the minister said that the functions of NGSA, aside from the mining sector cuts across all sectors including agriculture, manufacturing, industrial development, stressing it is the foundation of developmental efforts of any nation.

“I must say you are doing a good job generating a lot of relevant data that are critical for informed decisions by decision makers, entrepreneurs in all fields.

“These days of paucity of funds, like you mentioned, it becomes imperative that we become genius of our creative endeavours. We must task ourselves on how to become independent. I see no reason why NGSA cannot be self-sustaining because what you generate is in demand, Dr. Alake added.

At his last port of call, which is the Council of Nigerian Mining Engineers and Geoscientists (COMEG), the minister who emphasized the need for the agency to think outside the box in revenue generation said henceforth, any report from the extractive industry or mining engineers without the COMEG stamp should not be brought to his attention.

In their separate welcome addresses, the Director-General of Mining Cadastre Office, MCO, Obadiah Nkom who expressed delight in being the first agency to host the Minister, revealed that the MCO moved in 2022 to digitize its operations through migration to an online platform called the Electronic Mining Cadastral System.

According to him, though the new platform led to a significant number of applications, he admitted some challenges such as delays in processing applications as a result of backlogs from the old system.

Nkom assured that efforts are ongoing to fine-tune the processes and make it more efficient in collaboration with the World Bank assisted Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification, MinDiver.

Also the Director-General of the Nigeria Geological Survey Agency, NGSA, Dr. AbdulRazaq Garba explained that the agency has been pivotal to the generation of geosciences information for development of the mining sector in line with its mandate.

He also said the NGSA has been in charge of the production of geological, geophysical, and geochemical maps of Nigeria, amongst other functions.

Edited By Grace Namiji