70 per cent of mining companies in Nigeria are not working

Nigeria is losing billions of Naira that should accrue to the federation account from the mining because Nigerian mining regulators are not efficient enough, an audit report by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, has revealed.

The maiden report, which covers 2007 to 2010, shows that over 70 per cent of mining title holders in Nigeria’s solid mineral sector are inactive companies, causing Nigeria’s government huge revenue losses.

“Mineral titles were issued by MCO (Mining Cadastre Office) to many companies, but only few are paying their annual fees and other fees as stated in Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act, 2007, thereby making the government to lose revenue,” the report noted.

The report prepared by Haruna Yahaya & Co., an independent Chartered Accountants firm, showed that Nigeria’s solid minerals sector is dominated by companies engaging in speculative mining activities.

It also revealed that out of about 3,163 companies granted 1,443 mining titles during the period; only 30 per cent are engaged in active quarry, mining and exploration activities, with illegal miners, medium scale operators and artisan miners the dominant group.