The Acting Chairman, Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, Shetima Umar Abba Gana, has said the solid minerals sector contributed N12 billion revenue into the Federation Account for the first time in 2015.
Gana said the feat was achieved through the advocacy and mass mobilization initiatives of the Commission to draw attention to the need to expand and diversify the country’s revenue base.
He said the 13 per cent derivation was also paid to the states that bore the solid minerals.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has agreed to upgrade the Department of Mines and Inspectorate of the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development to enhance the contribution of the sector to the Federation Account.
The Minister of State, Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, Bawa Bwari who spoke on Tuesday, April 26, in Abuja during a seminar on the role of mining in diversifying the revenue base of the economy organized by the RMAFC, said the Federal Government decided to adopt in principle, the recommendation of the RMAFC that Mines and Inspectorate Department which is responsible for exploitation and exploration activities as well as collecting operational fees, be upgraded into a full fledged agency.
When operational, the agency, will have the same status as the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) as a cost collecting agency.
He said to ensure its efficiency and sustainability, the Fedartisanal (miners), repair moribund infrastructure, provide more respectable geoscience data, engage with foreign and domestic partners, work on an integrated road map that emerges from a broad consultation process, and enter into strategic partnership with governors and other colleagues at the Federal Executive Council,” Bwari said.
