The Federal Executive Council has approved a bill to replace the outdated mining law in Nigeria.
The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite disclosed this to State House Correspondents at the end of this week’s meeting of the council chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Council approved a new bill to go to the National Assembly to replace the old law guiding mining in Nigeria. The law we are operating on now is 2007 Nigeria Mineral and Mining Law and 2007 to date is 16 years. It has become obsolete.
“A lot of new things have come up in mining. There’s a renewed focus and everyone is coming there and as expressed today, it’s a new frontier for economic growth in Nigeria. So we need to update the law in line with modern realities and the laws with some amendments.
“The Attorney General will be sending the bill, which is the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2023 to the National Assembly, which we intend to follow up.
“The members of the National Assembly are fully with us on this and are part of the process. They promised us a speedy process, so that this bill can pass and Mr. President can assent to it before we leave office in May,” he assured Nigerians.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, while speaking on the two approvals for the Ministry of Labour and Employment said: “One is pertaining to the woodworking ecosystem. Government has revised regulations pertaining to woodworking machinery and the entire ecosystem which dated back to 1959.
“New regulations have been put in place as empowered by the law. And by this approval, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice will domicile and gazette these changes that have been approved,” he added.