The Chairman, Senate Committee on Solid Minerals Development, Engr. Osita Ngwu has commended the Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office (MCO) for its migration to electronic mining cadastre, a milestone that is in line with global best practices, adding that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is serious in developing the economy through the minerals sector.
Ngwu, who gave the commendation during his familiarisation visit recently to the Mining Cadastre Office, recently acknowledged continuous rise in revenue generated by the Agency and the sector, and particularly acknowledged the professionalism of the Legal and ICT units for “doing a good job,” saying that very soon, the agency will migrate to “plus plus.”
The Committee Chairman stated: “My visit here is to familiarize myself with the Agency and not to ask questions because we are still studying what is going on and looking at the policy direction of the government because the government has to direct, ours is to support, oversight and put up legislative framework to make sure that the government succeeds.”
“Nigeria is important to everybody, we are all going to work as a team together to make sure that the country moves forward.”
The Senate Committee Chairman expressed the need for stakeholders to work together despite challenges facing the sector. He assured full support of the Senate toward the progress of the sector.
He said: “One thing for sure is that we are going to completely look at the system together such that we look at the challenges…so one thing you can be assured is our support to make progress, if we don’t make progress the country doesn’t make progress.”
He pledged unfailing support of the National Assemble and partnership with the agency, stating that “there will be meetings that we are all going to do that will require us to make contributions.”
A statement from the Agency, signed by Folasade Fatoke, Head, Press and Public Relations said the Director-General, MCO, Engr. Obadiah Simon Nkom who made a Power-Point presentation to the visiting Committee Members, said that the agency’s mandate is to grant mining licenses across the country, adding that MCO is the only legal way for the mining industry.
Nkom explained that MCO is made up of multi –disciplinary professionals, adding that the technical departments consist of mining engineers, geologists and surveyors among others. He said major reforms such as migration to a web-based online (real time mineral title administration system) has led to investor’s confidence. He explained that organizational structure and establishment of full operational Zonal Offices in six geopolitical zones has also boosted the efficiency of the organization.
The Director-General stated: “We have an organizational structure and we have the Zonal Offices in six geopolitical zones with various departments and staff with different functions. The mining cadastre is made up of multi-disciplinary professionals where the technical department particular, the mining engineers, geologists, GIS experts, computer scientists and the supporting departments, the admin, finance, procurement, most importantly, the legal department”.
He said since inception, the Agency has enjoyed a near 100% success in litigation, adding that the Legal Unit played a key role in the victories. He said: “Our Legal Unit is very strong because wherever there is wealth, there are always challenges, and people would usually go to court. So far, we have a series of litigations and irrespective of that, we have nearly 100 per cent success in litigations.”
The Director-General solicited the assistance of the National Assembly in order to improve the Mining Cadastre Office and transform the mining sector.
