Nigerian journalists, mining enthusiasts, and other concerned stakeholders must exercise the courage and statesmanship needed to investigate tax avoidance by miners in North West Nigeria, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, said on Tuesday.
The Executive Secretary, who spoke through NEITI Director of Policy, Planning, and Statistics, Dr. Dieter Ahmed Bassi, at a special panel dialogue organized by Global Rights in Abuja titled “Protecting Host Community Rights: Knowing the Regulators, What They Do, and How Host Communities Can Access Them When Their Rights Are Violated,” said, “Nigeria needs to know whom taxes are paid to in the North West that NEITI can not find in the books.”
Orji, who expressed concern that mining was the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, expressed dismay that the current contribution of the mining sector to the country’s GDP is less than one percent, stating that it was more than ten percent in the early fifties. “Unfortunately, the mining sector now contributes less than 1 percent to GDP,” he said.
While saying that Kebbi and Zamfara States are well endowed with gold, with a lot of mining of gemstones there, the Executive Secretary reasoned that the derivation going to the states from mineral resources was poor considering the beehive of gemstone mining in the states.
According to the Executive Secretary, “the mining sector is underreported in terms of revenue, stating that Ogun State is the highest paid, which gets 13 percent derivation from solid minerals, followed by Kogi State. This, he said, is because Ogun and Kogi States have cement production legally going on in the states.
While he agreed that there are a lot of mining activities in Nasarawa State, he expressed dismay that there is not much to show for it in terms of revenue generated to government coffers, stating that several millionaire miners are flourishing at the expense of revenue losses to the government.
He tasked journalists and the general public to study NEITI Audit Reports, adding that the Reports contain ample statistical data on mineral resources for reference purposes in news.
“The statistical data contained in the NEITI Report will aid journalists in their work,” he added. According to him, the reports have data on production, revenue that comes from the sector, royalty per state, aggregates by states, as well as the solid minerals that are legally mined in the respective states of the federation.
“NEITI Reports will help you understand the performance of your state with respect to mining and development of mineral resources.”
“You can be exporting a defined amount of gold, but if royalty is not paid on it, NEITI will not report it; NEITI only reports on the legal mineral exports.”
Discussing the link between mining and insecurity, the NEITI boss said the activities of illegal miners continue to threaten the security of host communities. “Illegal miners lawlessly extract and transport the mineral resources in contravention of the law.”
“I did my mapping alone in Jos because the environment was secure at the time. I got my data sets without security escorts, and I was safe and I wasn’t kidnapped. But that was then, not now. As it stands now, the fear of insecurity does not allow any geosciences student to travel to Anka Hills for data or geological research.”
Discussing the threat posed by banditry to mining and geoscience-related fieldwork in the country, he said: “Under the current time, I cannot do that alone because of the fear of bandits and kidnappers.”
He stressed the alarming intensity associated with mining sites in the country, saying: “Expatriates in Nigeria now move to exploration sites with battle-ready armed personnel for fear of insecurity.”
