FG Revokes 1,263 Mining Licences

The federal government has revoked a total of 1,263 mineral licences for failure to meet annual service fee obligations, in a decisive move to sanitise Nigeria’s mining sector and attract serious investors.

A statement signed by the
Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of Solid Minerals Development
Segun Tomori in Abuja says the revoked licences to be removed from the Electronic Mining Cadastral System (eMC+)—comprise 584 Exploration Licences (EL), 65 Mining Leases (ML), 144 Quarry Licences (QL) and 470 Small-Scale Mining Leases (SSML).

According to the statement the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, approved the revocation following a recommendation from the Mining Cadastral Office (MCO).

It emphasises that the enforcement of the law is necessary to weed out speculators and non-compliant operators who hinder the sector’s development.

“The era of acquiring licences and hoarding them for the highest bidder is over, Financially capable and industrious investors have long complained about lack of access to viable sites”.

“Paying the annual service fee is the barest minimum to show interest in mining. Licensees should voluntarily return licences if they no longer intend to use them, rather than wait for revocation” Dr. Alake states.

The statement warns that revocation does not erase the debts owed adding that the ministry will forward the list of defaulters to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for recovery actions.

“This measure sends a strong signal about the consequences of speculative activity in the licensing process,” he adds.

According to the statement, the process began on June 19, 2025, when the Nigeria mining Cadastral office published an official notice of intention to revoke the licences in the Federal Government Gazette.

“A total of 1,957 defaulters were initially identified.
Efforts were made to sensitise licence holders through nationwide dissemination of the gazette and a 30-day compliance window, in line with the Minerals and Mining Act, 2007” he stresses.

It explains that the delay in final revocation was due to the need to reconcile claims by some licensees who insisted they had made payments via the Remita platform.

“This latest action brings the total number of mineral licences revoked under the current administration to 3,794, which includes: 619 titles revoked in 2024 for non-payment of annual fees and 912 titles revoked for dormancy.

It states that the revocation aligns with the ongoing reforms in the mining sector under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, aimed at repositioning the industry as a viable contributor to the nation’s economic diversification agenda.

“Despite pushback from defaulters and their agents, the positive impact of these reforms is both massive and manifest,” Dr. Alake adds.

By Georgina Humphrey