In Five Years, Mining Cadastre Office Generates N14.59bn

The Director-General of Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office, Obadiah Nkom, has revealed that the agency generated N14.59billion from 2018 to 2022.

He disclosed this to journalists at the 63rd session of the State House Ministerial briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.

In 2018, 2019 and 2020, the agency generated N1.55bn, N2.38bn and N2.57bn respectively.

However, between 2021 and 2022, its revenue fell from N4.3bn to N3.79bn respectively.

Also Read: FG Records N14.28tn Revenue Shortfall – BOF

The DG explained that the revenue drop was due to changes in its internal operating system which temporarily affected revenue inflow.

According to Nkom, 100 per cent of the Office’s revenues are sent to the Treasury Single Account of the Federal Government.

He also noted that the bulk of the revenue comes from application, processing and annual service fees; constituting 50 per cent of the annual revenue generated from the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.

The President Muhammadu Buhari, re-appointed Nkom for a second and final term of four years with effect from January 12, 2023.

Nkom who holds a Higher National Diploma in Mining Engineering from Kaduna Polytechnic was first appointed on January 12, 2019, for an initial period of four years.

In September 2021, a joint Senate committee working on the 2022-2024 Medium-Term Expenditure and Fiscal Strategy Paper, berated the agency’s boss over poor revenue generation.

The committee argued that the nation was bleeding billions of Naira due to the swelling activities of illegal miners under Nkom’s watch.

In the 12 months that followed, the NMCO revoked 3,400 titles, with plans to revoke more in 2023.