As part of the fulfilment of their statutory functions, members of the House of Representatives committee on solid minerals have paid an oversight visit to some agencies, under the ministry in Abuja on Tuesday.
Chairman of the committee Rep Jonathan Gaza Gbefwi, member representing Keffi, Kokona, Karu federal constituency of Nasarawa State, said the visit is aimed at assessing the utilisation and performance of the 2024 budget and the overall state of the Nigerian mining industry.
The chairman of the committee engaged in comprehensive discussions with heads of the agencies, focusing mainly on key issues affecting the mining sector, which includes regulatory challenges, accurate data dissemination, and the progress of the ongoing reforms.
Rep Gaza emphasized the importance of the oversight visit starting that the goal of the committee is to ensure that the solid minerals sector carries out its full mandate. ‘We are committed to identifying areas where we can provide legislative support to enhance efficiency in service delivery our responsibility is to reposition the mining sector.
He tasked the agencies to redouble their efforts in ensuring that they improve their revenue drive, “as a private sector driven agency, you need to do more to improve your revenue so that you can be contribute to the nation’s Gross Domestic P.roduct (GDP)”.
Speaking earlier, Director General of Nigerian Geological Agency Olusengun Ige, provides and overview of the agency’s achievements highlighting efforts to enhance their performance, saying “before now, we use have an autonomy, but was later revoked”‘ which he said has affected their performance greatly.
The committee also visited the solid mineral development fund and the Mining Cadastre Office and was received by the executive secretary of the agency, Hajia Fatima Shinkafi, as well as the managing director Mining Cadastre Mr. Obadiah Simon Nkom, respectively.