Loses N300b to revenue non-remittance by CBN, others
MINES and Steel Development Minister, Musa Sada, has urged financial institutions in the country to establish mining desks in their establishments to aid solid mineral financing.
According to him, the sector's inability to contribute significantly to the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is because it has not been actively relevant in the capital market.
Speaking Tuesday in Abuja at a two-day professional development and training workshop in the solid minerals sector, organised by the Council of Mining Engineers and Geoscientists (COMEG) and Geoprobe Limited, Sada disclosed that the ministry was parleying with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Fidelity and Stanbic banks over financial access to investors.
"The inability of mining operators to access project financing arising from lack of acceptable bankable feasibility study reports results in many exploration licenses remaining unexplored and thus remaining at that level without being able to be transformed into mining leases," the minister said.
A geologist from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof. Ibrahim Garba, who spoke on "Global Trends in Mineral Exploration, Mining and Beneficiation or Extraction," listed Canada, America, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Russia, China and Australia as the top 10 countries with high exploration budgets.
The Chairman, Governing Board of COMEG, Chamberlain Oyibo, said that training would enhance professionalism in the extractive industry and facilitate human capacity development to enable the country provide the needed 50 per cent skilled manpower required for segments of the extractive industries, especially the solid mineral sector.
The minister listed other challenges in the sector to include the inadequate processing of minerals, resulting in much lower realizable revenues for both operators and government.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives again heard yesterday that the non-remittance of revenues generated by some agencies was attracting a yearly loss of N300 billion to the Federal Government.
Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, Abdulmumin Jibrin, who briefed his colleagues on the level of performance of revenue generating agencies, stated that some of them that were summoned by the panel refused to honour the invitation.
He requested the Speaker to use his good office to compel the affected agencies to honour the invitation. He identified the agencies as the CBN, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).
Others include the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and Pensions Commission (PENCOM).
Jibrin disclosed that the affected agencies, rather than remit 80 per cent of their independently generated revenue to the Federal Government, had never remitted any more than 10 to 20 per cent of their operating surpluses.
He also disclosed that only one of the affected agencies remits 50 per cent of its operating surplus to the government out of 60. According to him, "to justify their action, these agencies blow up their expenditure to swallow their operating surpluses. Sadly, it is the money-spinning agencies that indulge in this more.
Over N150 billion was found to be unremitted by these agencies. For instance, in 2011, NNPC's operating surplus target was N500 billion and it was expected to remit 80 per cent but remitted nothing. NPA's operating surplus was N160 billion for the same period but its expenditure was creatively blown to N160 billion.
"CBN's operating surplus for 2012 was N240 billion but its expenditure was put at N234 billion. For 2013, CBN operating surplus target is N400 billion but as usual, its expenditure was creatively put at 390 billion, and this is an organisation whose chief executive was advocating the sack of half of Federal Government workforce."
Jibrin added: "The independent revenue is a huge issue and there is no way the passage of the 2013 Budget would be possible until we deal with the issue of the remittances because we intend to compel all the agencies involved to remit what they are supposed to remit and it is our intention to add it to the budget for 2013."
