According to Dele Alake, Minister of Solid Minerals Development, miners and industry players owed the federal government almost N2 trillion.
This comes as the minister emphasized that President Bola Tinubu’s administration is committed to stopping illicit miners’ operations nationwide.
According to Alake, the actions of illegal miners constitute a grave offense against Nigeria and her citizens, and such behavior is intolerable.
This was said by the minister on Thursday at a meeting with dealers of laterite and sand in Kaduna State who hold licenses to hold minerals.
He declared that “in Kaduna State, it’s over N300bn,” and that “Miners and Operators owed the federal government more than N2trn.”
The minister, Kutman Hosea Ali, the acting zonal mines officer for the North-West zonal office, represented him. “We have made it very clear that every operator in Kaduna State should make bold steps and clear their debt,” the minister declared.
In the meantime, the minister has instructed the Kaduna State-based Special Mines Taskforce to crack down on illicit miners and nonpayment of monthly royalties and other taxes owed to the federal government.
The Nigerian Army, Police, Civil Defence Corps, Department of State Security Services, agents of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and Nigeria Immigration Service make up the Special Mines Surveillance Taskforce. The team is led by state mine officers.
He also criticized the failure of the states to provide money received from royalties and mineral resource taxes to the federal government, threatening to penalize those who did not comply.
He claims that because mining is on the exclusive list, it can only be regulated by the federal government; state and local governments are not permitted to receive royalties or any other form of mining tax.
To be clear, state and local governments have the right to collect other taxes like ground rent and other levies, but they are not allowed to collect mining royalties or other taxes related to mining.
“Any money collected by a state or local government under the guise of a royalty or mineral tax will be subtracted from the source allotted to the state.”
The minister said, “The war against illegal mining and nonpayment of royalties which must be paid monthly as well as other taxes to the Government of Nigeria has been launched in Kaduna State by the Special Mines Taskforce.”
In addition to cautioning anyone without a mining license not to enter the field, he stated that those who did “should report to the Mines Office, Kaduna to collect permit to mobilise to site.”
According to him, the meeting’s goal was to present the ministry’s strategy for miners and operators until 2024 and beyond.
Alake clarified that President Tinubu’s administration gave the mining industry first attention and noted that the significance of the meeting could not be overstated.
The engagement between miners and the regulators became vital, according to the brief statements made by Ado Dogo, the Chairman of the Miners Association of Nigeria, Kaduna branch, on behalf of the association’s Secretary, Kashim Hussaini.
He criticized what he called state governor meddling in mining matters and emphasized that state governors must uphold the rules that govern mining in their individual jurisdictions.
As miners, we are aware that we work for state, municipal, and even village governments; but, occasionally, state governors have the authority to prevent you from going to work. By making contributions to the federation account, we are carrying out this mining operation in the interim,” he stated.