The Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office (MCO), on Sunday expressed its commitment to reposition the mining sector to boost the economy and enhance development across the country.
The Director-General of the MCO, Mr Obadiah Nkom, gave this indication in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
Nkom said that the essence of the move was not only to boost the economy but also to take the sector to a global standard.
According to him, the plan for the agency which is already ongoing is to reposition the mining cadastre and take it to a world class standard.
“We are also working toward getting a system which can boost the growth and development of the sector.
“The sector main aim and objective are to make sure the mining cadastre is moved from where it was before to a higher level.
“We will continue to align with the mining cadastre until when we have completely moved towards achieving our goals and objectives.
“Therefore, keying into the development of the mineral sector and aligning with the new administration’s agenda, are the least we can do for the sector,” he said.
Nkom said that the mining cadastre has a roadmap which has been used irrespective of the change of governments.
He said that the need to reposition and boost the mining economy, particularly in terms of revenue generation, must be improved.
He said that the office had provided an electronic mining cadastre system (eMC+), which was inaugurated on Nov. 1, 2022.
He said that the aim of the system was to improve service delivery and to ensure transparency and accessibility of information.
“Having an online system for people is mandatory in compliance. The compliance aspect of the sector is a 100 per cent online system.
“But since the launch in 2022 when the online portal was opened, there had been an increase from 0 per cent to 40 per cent.
“There is a need to familiarise the public with the system and carry out public enlightenment which has already started around the country with the help of our zonal offices.”
The director-general said that the ease of doing business with the mining cadastre provides an advantage of developing the abundance of minerals located over the country.
He, however, called on Nigerians to invest in the sector, adding that mining was one of the major sectors that can boost the economy as well as improve development of the country.