EXPLOITATION and exploration of solid minerals are governed by The Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2007 (“the Act”) which was passed into law on March 16, 2007 to repeal the Minerals and Mining Act, No. 34 of 1999. The Act vests control of all properties and minerals in Nigeria in the states and prohibits unauthorised exploration or exploitation of minerals.

All lands in which minerals have been found in commercial quantities shall from the commencement of the Act be acquired by the Federal Government in accordance with the Land Use Act. Property in mineral resources shall pass from the government to the person by whom the mineral resources are lawfully won upon their recovery in accordance with provisions of the Act.

The Minister, amongst other things, is charged with the responsibility of ensuring the orderly and sustainable development of Nigeria’s mineral resources, creating an enabling environment for private investors, both foreign and domestic, by providing adequate infrastructure for mining activities and also identifying areas where government intervention is desirable in achieving policy goals in mineral resources development.

The Act also provides for the establishment of the Mining Cadastre Office, MCO, which shall be responsible for the administration of mineral titles and the maintenance of the cadastral registers, and empowers the Minister, by regulation, to determine areas eligible for the grant of an exploration or mining lease based on a competitive bidding process. The MCO shall collect a fee for processing of applications for mineral titles and an annual service fee established at a fixed rate per square cadastral unit for administrative and management services.

In other words, the FG owns, controls, monitors the exploitation and exploration of our natural solid mineral resources. The questions that follow therefore include: Why does the FG apply different and separate rules and policies for solid mineral as against liquid mineral resources of Nigeria?

Why should an individual be allowed to own and prospect on solid minerals, controlled by an officer of the Ministry, while same is not applicable for oil, except through a Commission we call the NNPC? Why is there no commission for solid minerals?

Solid Mineral Deposits are scattered all over Nigeria, with more deposits in certain areas than others. Over 40 million tonnes of talc deposits have been identified in Niger, Osun, Kogi, Ogun and Kaduna states. There are huge deposits of coal ranging from bituminous to lignite in the Anambra Basin of South East Nigeria. We have lead-zinc ores within the Asaba Area of Niger Delta, while we have tin, niobium, lead, around Oyo and Igbeti, with as much over a billion tonnes of gypsum spread around Niger, Ondo and Ekiti states.

Nigeria’s potentially most beneficial solid minerals are spread around the nation but most of them are in the North. We have limestone in Cross River, Ogun, Benue, Gombe, Ebonyi, Sokoto, Edo and Kogi states; magnesite in Adamawa and Kebbi states; coal in Enugu, Imo, Kogi, Delta, Plateau, Anambra, Abia, Benue, Edo, Ondo, Bauchi, Adamawa and Kwara states; wolframite in Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi and Niger states; silver is found only in Kano, with kyanite in Kaduna and Niger states; manganese only in the Northern states of Kebbi, Katsina and Zamfara with diatomite found only in Yobe State, while ilmennit-rutile is only in Bauchi, Plateau and Kaduna states; fluorite only in Taraba State with gold in Niger, Kebbi, Kaduna, Kogi, Kwara and Zamfara and a little in Osun.

Nasarawa State in the North has been appropriately tagged as Nigeria’s Home of Solid Minerals. The state is one of the most naturally endowed states in Nigeria in terms of the availability of economically and commercially viable natural resources.These include clay, columbite, ilmenite, mica, barytes, pyrite, clay, galena, limestone, sodium chlorgide, ephalerite, clay, silica sand, baryte, galena, salt, limestone, clay, silica sand, granites, tantalite, mica, sphalerite, talc, gemstone (tourmaline, aquamarine and sapphire), tourmaline, aquamarine, mica, halcopyrite, topaz, cassiterite, columbite, tantalite, emerald, aquamarine, heliodor, topaz, amethyst, quartz, mica, granite, baryte, clay, coaking coal, marble, iron ore, mica, tantalite, cassiterite, columbite, granite, ilmenite, aquamarine.

Bauchi is another richly endowed state in the North with metal ores, non-metalic ores and gem stones. Other untapped mineral resouces of Bauchi include kaolin,talc,tin,quartz,iron ore, gypsum, zircon, calcite,tantalite,chalcoprite,mica, copper ore, limestone,tourmaline, beryl, garnet, columbite, muscovite, aquarmarine, topaz, marble, bismuth, wolfromite and others.

The commercial value of Nigeria’s solid minerals has been estimated to run into hundreds of trillions of Dollars, with 70 percent of these buried in the bowel of Northern Nigeria. The failure of Nigeria, since her independence in 1960, to put in place a structure that will make the benefits of the exploitation of our solid minerals available to all Nigerians is unfortunate.

While all Nigerians benefit from the accruals from oil exploitation and exploration, only a few individuals and their cronies benefit from solid mineral resources. It may well be that someone just decided that the development of mineral resources will be deliberately slowed down through poor structural arrangements. Some think that it was a deliberate arrangement by the North to use up the oil of South to develop, and when the oil resources become depleted, change their plans and affairs in the way they like against the South. Like in the oil resources, Nigeria needs a commission to handle all issues regarding solid minerals for the benefit of all Nigerians.

The current half hazard approach to exploitation of solid mineral resources speaks poorly of our ability to harness the gains for the benefit of the whole country. The current situation where a few people have cornered the mining licenses and are declaring what they like as profits and tax, must be changed. The present scattered individual efforts to draw investment into the solid minerals sector would be greatly enhanced by the use of a commission to handle solid minerals. The use of a commission will not only assist in harmonising mining rules and practice in Nigeria, it will provide a good platform to draw increased development in that sector, much more than we have today. We need a Commission for Solid Minerals now.

Mr. CLEMENT UDEGBE, a legal practitioner, wrote from Lagos.