The minister of mines and steel development, Mr Musa Sada, on Monday, September 29, 2014 in Abuja, revealed the plans of the Federal Government to establish a fiscal policy system regarding the sector for solid mineral.
This was revealed in a statement signed by the head of media in the ministry, Mr Ambrose Momoh.
Momoh said Sada revealed this at a meeting with a delegation led by the executive secretary of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Malam Auwal Musa.
Sada said plans were in the offing to get a system for the solid mineral sector to ensure that every benefit derived from the minerals sector was duly added to their income.
He said, “We are currently on the verge of getting a fiscal policy for the sector that will put together all the royalties, taxes and fees, instead of paying them into non-oil revenue.
“Such monies will then be paid into mineral sector revenue.”
Furthermore, the minister revealed that the decision was considered following the audit report of the first Nigerian Extractive Industries and Transparency Initiative (NEITI) of the solid mineral sector.
Sada said the government has plans in the offing to make sure that the sector produces more and that taxes paid into the government account would be equivalent with the production.
Also, he added that various means were being devised by the ministry to monitor the percentage the solid mineral sector pays to the government.
Meanwhile, Sada lauded NEITI for carefully auditing the mining sector adding that the Initiatives remarks would spur the necessary moves for the growth of the sector.
The minister while thanking the delegation for their visit made it known that the ministry was willing to support the development of the sector by collaborating with indispensable stakeholders to see to the development of the sector
Also, he urged the country to learn from the issues related with the oil industry so as to avoid a repeat of such problems in the mining sector.
“I tried to promote the concept of partnership with quite a number of organizations,” he said.
Sada further revealed that Federal Government had deployed a Presidential Task Force to fight unlawful mining nationwide.
Further speaking, he said some of the problems raised in the NEITI in the audit report could be tackled by establishment of mineral buying centers and standardization of Community Development Agreements.
Consequently he solicited for more partnership from various stakeholders to enable the solid mineral sector gain their grounds in Nigeria’s economy.
The Executive Director, CISLAC, made it known that the visit was prompted in a bid to show their willingness to lend a supporting hand to the government towards the development of the mining sector and improving the economy of the nation.
He stated that the organization was leading the move to include solid minerals sector in the NEITI audit report.
Also, he advocated that the ministry devices solutions to significant problems that were identified in the NEITI audit report of the sector to enable the sector move forward.
