By Adedapo Adesanya
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Mr Dele Alake, has given the Mineral Resources and Environmental Management Committee (MIREMCO) a 90-day ultimatum to improve its performance or face severe sanctions from the federal government.
Speaking at the 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of MIREMCO Chairmen, the Minister expressed dissatisfaction with the agency’s current performance, emphasising that it is its core responsibility to interface between sub-nationals, local communities, operators, and the federal government to minimise cases of conflict.
”The federal government is supposed to rely on your reports on the activities or inactivity of operators and whether they comply with environmental regulations and all other sundry regulations governing the sector.
“We are not impressed by the execution of that mandate, and we will not hesitate to wield the big stick if, after 90 days, the committee fails to turn a new leaf, “the Minister asserted.
Mr Alake stressed that the provisions of the act have not been effectively executed by the committee and cited the Nigeria Minerals And Mining Act (NMMA) 2007, Section 19, sub-section 3g, which makes it mandatory for MIREMCO to act as a liaison between the subnational authorities, the local governments, the communities and the operators.
According to the minister, “If MIREMCO had effected provisions of the act, the spate of interference that we witness by the subnational, in some instance, local governments shutting down Mines, making policy pronouncements that are outrightly unconstitutional would have been minimal. It is the failure of this body that has given rise to states dabbling into areas that are beyond their constitutional purview. ”
He emphasised the role of subnational authorities in MIREMCO’s operations, clarifying that the chairmen and five out of ten (10) committee members are nominated by state governments, ensuring their interests are already represented under the committee’s statutes.
The minister then charged the chairmen to rally their members and improve their performance, failure of which the federal government will be left with no other option than to act appropriately to restore effective management of the nation’s mineral resources and its attendant environmental concerns.
Responding to issues raised, Mr Alake assured of periodic engagements with the committee whilst also promising to push for improved funding for the agency in the 2025 fiscal year to bolster its capacity to effectively fulfil its mandate.