THE various reforms instituted by the Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office (MCO) has largely met the expectations of mining stakeholders, President, Nigerian Chambers of Mining, Alhaji Sheu Sani has disclosed.
The Chamber Chief made the statement just as the Director General of the Mining Cadastre Office, Engr Obadiah Simon Nkom disclosed that his office has expanded the ongoing reform to ease access to seamless mining operations.
Sani who was also a former President of Association of Nigerian Miners said most changes miners advocated for such as the creation of zonal offices have been implemented.
According to him, the operationalisation of the zonal offices has eased the burden of miners across the nation even as he also highlighted digitisation of licencing process as another laudable step stakeholders are happy with.
“We are happy with the ongoing reform and we appreciate government’s response to our decades of advocacy. The Cadastre has grown to be a reliable partner for miners. The agency has shown it recognises her new mandate in the race of national shift to non-oil sector”, he said.
The DG MCO, Engr Obadiah and the President of Mining Chamber spoke at the Mining Cadastre Day held at the ongoing 16th Abuja International Trade Fair organised by Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI).
He said the reforms are meant to enhance transparency, accessibility and standardisation of the licencing process.
“We are innovating on various fronts. Aside all previous landmarks initiative, a current project we are Implementing is the thematic mapping of areas restricted from mining activities for integration into the Nigerian Mining Cadastre digital database. We hope to have at glance a map of areas where mining activities are not permitted for a number of reasons”, he said.
He also said this initiative will enable the licencing authority to know restricted areas on which mining licence cannot and should not be issued, adding that “the thematic mapping will serve both the authority and the investing public”
He noted further that the MCO is also expanding the digitalisation project, citing “the establishment of a standard system of e-recording and e-archiving of licencing records in line with new system upgrade.
“We are creating a standard system of e-filling of our records. This is to ensure much needed digitisation of operations which will ease the burden for all stakeholders and facilitate foreign direct investment into the world of mineral sector in the country.”
The Vice President Mines ACCI, Dr. Johnson Anene called on MCO to open licencing to more members of the Chamber and opined that the process of obtaining licence has not been easy. But since the coming on board of the new DG, it has become easier.
The Director General ACCI, Victoria Akai who welcomed the MCO team said, the presence of the mining licencing office is a major addition to the list of many frontline federal and private agencies that have made participation at the Abuja Trade Fair a must on their annual calendar.
She urged the DG MCO to put this Trade Fair on the annual list of the “must participate” and “must attend” events in his agency’s schedule.
“Earlier this year, the DG participated in our webinar Series focussing on the mining sector. The report of the webinar is today reproduced for further circulation and action by relevant agencies.
