The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has accused host communities of facilitating revenue loss into the Federation Account by taking part in illegal mining.
To further boost the revenue into this account, the RMAFC has urged governments to review the current royalty regime to align them with the changing global realities.
Specifically, the RMAFC boss wants the three tiers of government to pay particular attention to some highly placed minerals such as lithium ore.
The Chairman of the RMAFC Mohammed Bello Shehu made these revelations at this year’s mining week organized by the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development (MMSD) in Abuja.
He lamented that the host communities were in the habit of carrying out illegal mining activities in collaboration with foreign partners.
Specifically he stated that both the host communities and their foreign partners engaged in smuggling “minerals out of the country which in turn contributes to making it more difficult for the government to regulate the sector”.
He expressed displeasure over continuous huge loss of government revenue as a result of illegal mining activities arising from host communities’ active participation in artisanal and small-scale mining.
Shehu said the Commission “discovered that other challenges leading to colossal loss of governments revenue generation from the sector are as a result of both informal and non-documentation of mining activities in the country”.
The commission he said made this discovery in the process of “carrying out its constitutional roles of monitoring accruals into and disbursement of revenue from the Federation Account alongside advising the three tiers of government on fiscal efficiency and methods by which their revenue can be enhanced”.
He also stated that the RMAFC has been actively involved in the proper development of the mining sector so the sector can generate more revenue into the Federation Account.
“This the Commission did by engaging in opening of the solid mineral component of the Federation Account for sharing of 13 per cent derivation to the 36 states and FCT. This is in addition to carrying out nationwide monitoring of Royalty and other tax collections in collaboration with MMSD and Miners association of Nigeria,” he said.