Revenue commission targets solid minerals to enhance collection

The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission has stressed the need for the development of the solid minerals sector to boost revenue generation to the Federation Account.
Elias Mbam, Chairman of the commission, made this assertion in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja.
According to him, every state in the country has one form of mineral resource or the other that can be used to generate revenue.
Mbam said: “We are carrying out an advocacy campaign to state and local governments to make use of what is available to us.
“Basically, every state has one form of mineral or the other.”
He said the country has solid mineral potentials that can be developed to generate more money than from oil and gas.
He said: “We recommend that the money realised from natural resources sometimes should be used to develop the solid mineral sector because it is vital to our social-economic development.”
Mbam said diversifying the economy would help to generate more revenue and that solid mineral was the commission’s major area of diversification.
He explained that solid mineral had started contributing to the Federation Account since his first tenure in office and money generated from the sector has been shared accordingly.
The chairman said any state that generates revenue through solid mineral would get 13 per cent of the revenue.
He added that Ogun State got the highest revenue because it generated the highest revenue from solid mineral.
He said: “The 13 per cent derivation was also applied in the sharing.
“It is not exclusive to oil and gas alone, but for any natural activities that generates money to the Federation Account.”
Mbam said all the states have the potential to generate revenue from solid mineral.
He, therefore, encouraged them to key in and develop solid minerals in their areas.
The chairman said lots of revenue is lost either by theft or collusion, adding that the commission will close all leakages so as to enhance the revenue generated.
He said the commission was highly committed in the President Muhammadu Buhari’s agenda of taking 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.
Mbam added that one of the ways to actualise this was by diversification, development of the agricultural sector and solid mineral.