Community Development Agreements: FG gives December 31 deadline to mining companies

….vows to severely punish companies for failure

….shuts down 3 mining companies successful 2024

By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – THE Federal Government, Thursday, gives December 31, 2025 deadline to licensed mining and quarry companies to reason connected Community Development Agreements, CDAs, with big communities.

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake gave the informing successful a connection signed by his Special Assistant connected Media, Segun Tomori, pursuing the reappraisal of the show of companies connected the Community Development Agreement successful the archetypal six months of this twelvemonth based connected the study of the Mines Environmental Compliance, MEC, section of the Ministry.

Tomori said according to the report, though determination were 74 caller mineral titles successful the archetypal six months of the year, lone 24 assemblage improvement agreements were signed.

He besides said the Minister recalled that successful 2023, the Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office, MCO, issued 960 Small Scale Mineral Licences, 391 Quarry licences, and 37 mining leases, totaling 1,388 titles that should proceed to motion CDAs earlier starting extraction.

Last year, MCO issued 728 Small Scale Mining Licences, 198 Quarry and 28 mining leases, totaling 954 mineral titles whose owners were obliged by instrumentality to prosecute communities and motion CDAs earlier embarking connected mineral operations.

The Minister besides highlighted the wide spread betwixt the thousands of mineral titles issued and the lone 342 CDAs signed truthful far, underscoring the urgent request for compliance.

His words: “Under our watch, liable mining, marked by compliance with planetary Environmental, Social and Governance standards, shall beryllium the rule.

“We volition not let a concern successful which companies unreserved to excavation without archetypal sitting down with the big communities, to hold to execute projects and programmes that volition code their needs.

“We person penalized companies that owed yearly work fees by revoking their titles.

“Refusal to support the Nigerian radical by agreeing with them connected what the communities volition summation from the mineral exploitation of their onshore is transgression expropriation, and an unpardonable injustice.

“This medication is not going to dainty immoderate institution recovered blameworthy aft this deadline with kid gloves. Their licences volition not lone beryllium revoked, they volition beryllium asked to wage reparations for the minerals carted away.”

He (Alake) urged communities to acceptable up prime teams comprising retired professionals who tin bring their expertise to the array during negotiations and unafraid bequest projects and programmes to payment the youth, women, and the assemblage astatine large.

He besides advised assemblage leaders and accepted rulers not to undermine the result of CDA negotiations by demanding idiosyncratic gifts from companies erstwhile their communities merit overmuch more, oregon recommending contractors who bash shoddy projects and pouch what the communities should benefit.

Meanwhile, the Minister commended the Director, Mines Environmental Compliance Department, Dr Vivian Okono, for shutting down 3 companies- Istanbul, Venus, and Cornerstone- past period for dragging their feet implicit the decision of Community Development Agreement negotiations with their big communities.

“That should beryllium a bully awesome to others that it is nary longer concern arsenic usual”, helium added.

The station Community Development Agreements: FG gives December 31 deadline to mining companies appeared archetypal connected Vanguard News.