The Mining Cadastre Office (MCO) said no waivers for mineral titleholders that failed to pay annual service fees. Mr Obadiah Nkom, MCO Director-General, made this known last Sunday in Abuja.
Nkom said the Nigeria Mining Act, 2007 did not stipulate or indicate that a waiver should be given to mineral title holders as a result of any pandemic. He said that some of the defaulters complained that they were unable to pay their fees due to COVID-19 and insecurity that prevented them from operating.
MCO had issued a month default notice to 2,763 mineral title defaulters early January and to expire on February 10. MCO has made public the names of companies and mineral titleholders who are yet to pay their annual service fees.
The office warned that failure of the defaulters to pay their debts as stipulated by the Nigeria Mineral Act, 2007, would lead to the revocation of their mining titles after the expiration date of the notice. MCO has stated that it would strictly enforce the ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ principle if defaulters fail to comply after the deadline.
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