No Nigerian state government has any constitutional right to ban mining activities, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has said.
Mr Alake disclosed this at the 2nd pre-press briefing on the 8th edition of the annual Nigeria Mining Week in Abuja.
The minister spoke in reaction to some states signing an executive order to ban mining activities.
In June, the Taraba State governor, Agbu Kefas, signed an executive order prohibiting illegal mining activities in the state.
Mr Kefas, who signed the order during a meeting with traditional rulers at the state government house in Jalingo, said the order would address insecurity in the state.
He said his government would strengthen its regulatory framework and collaborate with all relevant agencies to fight the state’s illegal mining activities.
Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Alake said no state government has the authority to interfere with mining operations in the various states.
He explained that mining activities are constitutional issues and an item in the exclusive legislative list of the federal government.
“State ban on mining activities across the country is a really sore point. And it is a constitutional matter. I want to use this opportunity to get to the Nigerian public that no state, and I repeat, no state has the authority to interfere in mining operations, no state has the authority. It is a constitutional matter,” Mr Alake said.
He said mining is exclusively within the purview of the federal government and, according to the constitution, it is in the exclusive legislative list not in the residual or the concurrent list.
“Every item on the exclusive legislative list belongs to the federal government. There is no doubt about that. All items on the residual list belong to the states and all items in a concurrent section belong to both, but mining, like oil and solid minerals, belongs in the exclusive legislative, therefore, it is the federal government that has the authority,” he added.
The minister explained that the ministry is not against any state that wants to engage in mining activities, provided they follow due processes and get licensed.
Due to the peculiar nature of solid minerals and because of the involvement of the local communities or the host communities, there is an engagement even in the regulatory framework of mining operations, he said.
“There is an engagement close with the host communities and the federal government, through the Ministry of Solid Mineral, has been engaging with host communities in fact, in the licensing operations or processes or procedures, there is a provision for the engagement with the host communities. Now these host communities also belong in the various states,” he said
“If any state wants to engage in mining, it can form its own Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), apply for a mining licence from the office of the Minister for Solid Minerals go through the due process and be so licensed if it meets all the criteria.
“Such a state is like any company or any individual, institution, or corporate body. But for a State to wake up and say it is regulating mining activities is like a state waking up to ban oil exploration it is downright illegal,” he added.
The minister added that because the federal government does not want to engage in confrontations and distractions leading to all kinds of infractions, it is engaging the States
“The state executives, I have been in touch with the chairman of the governors forum and I am going to address the National Economic Council (NEC) of which state governors are members to educate the states. I have also engaged quite a number of governors individually, some have come to visit me here.
“I have been able to tell them, this is the situation. I have also discovered that some are not very vast in the constitutional imperatives and dynamics of this sector. And so there’s a need for adequate education and enlightenment.
“However, there is no amount of education and enlightenment that we engage in that would be outside the purview of the law, of the constitution, and the constitution is very clear. Mining activities, solid minerals, liquid minerals all minerals belong in the purview of the federal government,” he said.
