The Senate on Thursday commended the Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office for its improvement in revenue generation in the last seven years.
The Senate Committee on Solid Minerals, while making the commendation in Abuja, particularly noted the N8.2 billion the agency generated in the 2024 fiscal year.
The committee, which is chaired by Sen. Ekong Samson, stated that the tenure of the Director-General of the NMCO, Engr. Simon Obadiah-Nkom has witnessed transformations in the operations of the agency.
The committee, which asked the agency to do more in ramping up revenue to enable President Bola Tinubu to achieve his developmental agenda, pledged the support of the National Assembly for its services
Sen. Sampson stated, “The Mining Cadastre Office has done well in respect of revenue generation. By ramping up of revenue for the country, I think that deserves
commendation, but a lot still needs to be done.
“The country is looking forward to diversification.
We are working to ramp up revenue for our economy. So, one looks forward to this kind of effort where revenue is ramped up so that we can firm up our economy.
“For whatever your projections, you deserve support and encouragement and the committee is fully alive. We have noted the issues you have canvassed. We have also noted the fact that you have ramped up revenue for the country.
“We look forward to happier days as it were. We expect you to increase your revenue that would help to drive our economy. We thank you and we have noted your insights.
“We, as a committee, are committed that Nigeria has to look beyond the oil and it must diversify, and that explains the concerns that we raised earlier when we observed that there was clear inadequacy to what was appropriated for solid minerals in Nigeria.
ALSO READ: Customs destroys 88 container-loads of imported pharmaceuticals in Lagos
“We raised that concern in the national interest. We are co-travellers that are united, that our economy must be strengthened and one way we can explore to strengthen our economy through this (solid minerals) sector.
“God did not make a mistake to have endowed our country so much. We have so many minerals. We have so huge endowments. Our solid minerals sector must be
given the attention that it deserves, if we are to drive diversification meaningfully.
“If we have to look beyond oil, we must look at solid minerals. I think that is a clear matrix that we are adopting in this committee, driven as it were by a very patriotic commitment to firm up our economy.
“So we have noted your contributions and we are proud of the steps you have taken to ramp up revenue. Do even more for the sake of our economy.”
Obadiah-Nkom, while presenting the 2025 budget estimates of the agency before the committee, said the agency generated ₦8.2bn as of October 2024, marking a significant milestone in the agency’s revenue performance.
The DG told the lawmakers that despite the agency generating over N8bbn last year, its annual appropriation remained only at N1bn.
Obadiah-Nkom expressed optimism that with increased investment in equipment, staff training, and better operational conditions, NMCO could achieve even higher revenues while ensuring ethical practices within the sector.
According to him, the agency’s total revenue from inception to October 2024 stands at N36.04bn, with 100 per cent of this amount remitted to the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA).
The DG added that the agency’s revenue from 2019, when he assumed office, to October 2024 amounts to N26.23bn, representing 75 per cent of the total revenue generated, with N13.19bn of that amount earned from 2023 to October 2024 alone.
Obadiah-Nkom said this marked a 63 per cent increase from the N8.09bn earned during the same period in 2021 – 2022.
He said the breakdown of NMCO’s revenue growth over the years showed consistent increases as follows: 2019 – N2.38 bn, 2020 – N2.56 bn, 2021-N4.30bn, 2022 – N3.79bn, 2023 – N6.07 bn and as at October 2024-N8.20 bn.
The DG explained that the rise in revenue generation was due to reforms within NMCO over recent years.
READ MORE FROM: NIGERIAN TRIBUNE