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The Federal Government’s plan to cede the control of solid mineral resources to the states is a good development. At a retreat for critical stakeholders in national planning and developmental strategies held in Abuja, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Ernest Umakhihe, revealed that a committee headed by Ekiti State governor and chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, was already working on an arrangement that would give states the liberty to enjoy full control of the solid mineral resources in their respective domains.
According to Umakhihe, by the time the report of the committee is ready some states would be able to exploit the solid mineral resources in their states and through this, shore up their revenue profile.
Discussants at the retreat had faulted the current arrangement whereby the Federal Government has remained the sole custodian of the nation’s vast mineral resources. The situation has, over the years, impoverished the majority of the country’s 36 states, leaving them unviable and eternally subservient to the central government, a clear aberration of our federalism.
We welcome the plan, which would enable the states to take ownership of their solid minerals. If such a move is actualised, the states would raise their internally generated revenues, which would translate to more infrastructure development for their states and job creation for the citizens. The plan has the potential to deemphasise the current reliance by the states on monthly handouts from Abuja and could bring about the much-desired fiscal federalism in the country.
It is ironic that most of the states in Nigeria have remained unviable, in spite of their vast mineral deposits.
In October, a report by BudgiT, a budget-tracking organisation, rated Lagos, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Kano as the only economically viable states in the country. The remaining 32 states, according to the report, could not survive without monthly allocations from the federal purse.
Indeed, the report can hardly be faulted. In spite of heavy borrowing from national and international bodies, most states cannot meet their basic needs. There is collapse of infrastructure across the states, even in the presumed financially strong states, while the payment of workers’ salaries has become a herculean task for most.
Yet, there is no state in the country, from Abia to Zamfara that is not blessed with enough natural mineral resources. From gold to iron-ore, tin, bitumen, kaolin, limestone, phosphate, gypsum, Silica-sand, lead, zinc, and many others, the states are literally sitting on billions of dollars. Yet, official exploitation of these minerals by the states is disallowed constitutionally.
Abandoned by the Federal Government, different communities in many states have been taken over by illegal local and foreign miners. And in Zamfara State, activities of the illegal miners have brought untold violence and calamity to the state and its people. Criminal gangs have been exploiting the situation.
Mining of minerals accounts for just a miserable 0.3 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The nation’s total reliance on petroleum and gas has adversely affected the exploitation of its solid minerals, and that is why the mining sector remains under-developed. Since the states lack the constitutional power to take over the sector, the nation’s mineral deposits are left unattended while the states wallow in poverty.
The Petroleum Act 1969 says that all minerals belong to the Federal Government. Section 44 (3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), as well as Item 39 Schedule II of the Exclusive Legislative List, also vest the control and management of the natural resources and hydrocarbon operations in the country on the Federal Government.
While the proposed plan to liberalise the solid minerals sector is laudable, certain sections of the 1999 Constitution and other laws should be amended. The process of such amendment could be long and tedious. Therefore, let the government begin the process without delay. To ensure true federalism, the states should have the power to control their resources.
