….conferred with NANS ‘Outstanding Leadership’ Award

By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – AMID the devastating novel Coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic, the Director General, Nigeria Mining Cadastral Office, MCO, Engr Obadiah Simon Nkom, Wednesday, revealed how revenue generation soared within the period the pandemic lasted.

Nkom made this known after he was conferred with ‘Outstanding Leadership’ Award by the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, in his office at the MCO headquarters in Abuja.

According to him, transparency and accountability based on the mandate were responsible for maximizing, and added that since 2019 the agency had surpassed the previous years of recorded revenue generated.

Meanwhile, he expressed deep appreciation to the leadership of NANS for the recognition, honour and award based on their assessment of his leadership and value added to the growth and development sector and economy with his effort at MCO.

He said: “When you look at our revenue since 2019, we have always surpassed the previous year. During the COVID-19 in 2020, we supposed to have shut down, but we still surpassed the previous year, even as I speak today even though we are in the middle of the year, we have surpassed last year’s revenue.

“It simply means that if at the end of June, we are already surpassing last year then whatever it is we have a target we need this Internally Generated Revenue, IGR.

“NIRA. ng, we didn’t know that the Mining Cadastre Office was on the list and out of the final six that went for screening and selection for the best in digital innovation of Federal Agencies in Nigeria for 2022 and we came out as the winner and it was a celebration for the sector.

“It now bestows on me greater responsibilities, expectations, more work. I feel touched for this honour you have given to me and with the NANS, we can go through the journey together.”

However, the MCO boss acknowledged and pointed out that, “We have legal challenges, a lot of legal court actions, but I can tell you that from the inception of the Cadastre till date.

“We have a hundred per cent of litigation successes and the secret is doing things right and doing it well as things supposed to be done. We are now partners in growing the economy and together we are going to move forward.

“When the Former President renewed my tenure he said I through the MCO have Increased revenue by 86 per cent.”

Earlier, the National Secretary, National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, Usman Baba Kaikai, noted MCP’s enormous contribution to the growth and development of the economy under the leadership of Engr Simon Obadiah Nkom, especially during tough times of the economy, while he explained why NANS at this point is throwing its weight behind the Nkom-led MCO, which he said is based on the drastic turnaround of the MCO and its laudable achievements as one of the best performed and still performing agency of the Federal Government.

Kaikai also disclosed that the NANS as the apex body of Nigerian Students both home and in the diaspora hails the sanity, transparency, zero-corruption tolerance, accountability and discipline led by the DG of MCO, and this had further enhanced easy of doing business and attraction of local and foreign investors into the sector.