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In line with the
provisions of the Nigeria Mining law of 2007, there is a
provision for strong community relations in the mining
industry which if well applied would eliminate some of the
problems associated with mining activities.
The Minister of Mines
and Steel Development, Arc. Musa Mohammed Sada made this
known during his working visit to the Oyo State Governor,
Otunba Adebayo Alao- Akala in his office.
The Minister said
“Apparently the law provides for very strong community
relations that are the environment and the people living
within it”.
The Minister said
there are certain environmental conditions such as social
responsibility, health and security inputs to host
communities that must be respected by mining operators
before mining license /title is either issued or renewed
He said “Mining
licenses are renewable and issued on certain conditions, we
will only be doing our job, if we see how far you are
respecting those conditions before issuing them”
Arc. Sada explained
that the Ministry decided to embark on the public
enlightenment programme to mines field as a result of
several complaints of non-compliance with the provision of
the mining law by the mining operators in the country.
He added that for any
intending mining operator to get a mining title there must
be an agreement between such mining operator and host
communities.
He further explained
that with the enactment of the Nigeria Mining law 2007 which
has brought a lot of transformation to the sector, the sole
responsibility of the Federal Government is to regulate all
mining operations in the country, stressing that his visit
to the South West Zone of the Mines field was at the
instance of the present administration to assess the level
of compliance with provisions of the mining law on the part
of mining operators.
According to him
“Since appointing us into office we have strong instructions
that for us in the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development
we are more or less a regulatory agency, we can only
regulate by seeing practically what is on the ground and it
is with this drive that we are going round to see the set up
of our operators and Stakeholders, interact with them and
see what they have on the ground’’.
The Minister said the
mining sector is taking into cognizance various
environmental problems associated with the petroleum
industry as a result of non-compliance with stipulated laws,
adding that the mines and steel sector is already working
proactively to curtail such menace in the sector.
Earlier in his remark,
the Executive Governor of Oyo State who was represented by
the Deputy Governor, Honourable Taofeek Oladejo Arapaja said
Oyo State is blessed with vast solid mineral resources such
as gemstone, granites which are not fully harnessed.
He lamented that
mining in Nigeria being on the exclusive list of the
constitution has really hampered mining operations in states
of the federation; he called for more statutory powers to be
given to states to manage the solid mineral resources of the
nation.
The Governor who
decried the poor funding of the State Mineral Resources and
Environmental Management Committee (MIREMCO) inaugurated by
the Federal Government ,called for more collaboration
between the Federal Government and States government to
fully harness the naturally endowed solid mineral
resources for the nation’s economic growth.
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