Cadastre generates N1.2bn in four months

The Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office (NMCO) has said it has generated N1.262 billion between January to April 2022.

Mr Obadiah Nkom, the Director-General of NMCO disclosed this while briefing newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday.

Nkom said that the amount was generated on a slow start within four months from the issuance of mining titles, licence fees and others.

NMCO generated N4.3 billion in 2021, an increase from the N2.3 billion it generated in 2020.

He said that the projection for 2021 was N2.5 billion but NMCO surpassed the projection to N4.3 billion.

“The figure is the highest ever generated to the federation account by NMCO over the years.”

NMCO is an autonomous agency of government saddled with the responsibility of managing and administering mineral titles.

“I have my projection for this year on the amount to generate for the sector but I always believe that I want to do better than in previous years.

“Mining sector is not only about revenue generation, I know people want to see revenue, the government also wants revenue but there are some factors that are more important than revenue.

“Bringing foreign investors to invest in the mining sector and administering mineral titles in most transparent ways are also important like revenue generation,” he said.

According to him, the ministry currently has 7,200 valid active mining titles.

“We have 7, 200 active mining titles that are working.

“It is not about the numbers of mining titles we have now, it is about activities going on those fields.” (NAN)