Federal Government has announced that the country made over N500 million from the renewal of mining licenses since last month when it gave the deadline to revoke the licensees of mining companies that are not registered. The Nation reports.
Recall that the Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr Kayode Fayemi, had reassured that the Federal Government will revoke the entire dormant license in the Country before the March 1 deadline, in a bid to curb all illegal activities and persecute the saboteurs in the sector.
A source had revealed that, huge sums of revenue have being lost as a result of the neglect that took place in the sector and a total number of 8000 jobs have being lost due to the operation of unlicensed mining outlets.
The source said: “As the revocation deadline drew near, a lot of people have been rushing over to renew their licences.
“Over N500million has so far been raised so far from dormant licence owners coming to renew their licences which is good for the country. These dormant leases were just sitting there and not generating any revenue for the country.
“The truth is that if these licences were active, it would have created about 8,000 jobs which were not there because the licences were dormant. But with the re-activation of these licences, jobs will be created in the industry.”
The Presidency has pledged to diversify the economy and reed it of its dependency on oil, since the downstream sector has been taking blows as global oil prices keeps sinking further.
