22 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2015
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Neglect of solid minerals: Why Nigeria remains poor Continued from page 21 royalty to the government. Nigeria is losing lots of resources from untapped mineral deposit as well as from the little that is being mined mostly by illegal miners who smuggle the products out of the country. According to NEITI audit report on solid mineral operation in Nigeria, there are six buying center, nine dredging companies, eleven exporters of solid minerals, fourteen medium scale mining companies, thirty-five commercial quarry, fifty-four construction quarry, eight quarry for manufacturing giving a total of one hundred and thirty-seven activities in the solid mineral sector of the Nigerian economy. Report on the Physical and Process Flows in Nigeria Solid Minerals Industry 2011 prepared by Haruna Yahaya & CO (Chartered Accountants) indicated that there are no adequate records of operations in the sector. The report said “A review of Central Bank of Nigeria and Nigeria Customs Service records on exported minerals showed that there were discrepancies in the value of exported minerals as well as the associated company. From available records of Central Bank of Nigeria, 15 companies exported 9,068.70 metric tonnes of minerals valued at N577, 768,456 while Nigeria Customs Service records showed that 30 companies exported 7,107,099.80 metric tonnes of minerals valued at N11,496,070,691. “Despite the fact that Gold and Barites were being mined across the nation, there is no record to show that these minerals are among the mined or exported minerals. Further finding shows that barites are mined in Benue and Nasarawa states, they are also purchased by multinational oil companies as drill fluids, despite high activities of miners there are no record of royalty payments. “From the available records of the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, there were no evidence of royalty payment on these exported minerals. The Nigeria Minerals and Mining Act 2007 requires that any exporter of solid minerals must request for permit to export minerals. But in defiance to the Act, there was no available evidence of request for permit or approval C M Y K
Entrepreneurial Education Revolution: An Imperative for Sustainable Development in Nigeria: Part 2
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to export minerals by the companies,” the report stated. The report further said “The informal players are mostly artisan miners, medium scale operators and illegal miners who hardly keep any record. Some of the minerals mined in Nigeria are exported out of the country by both formal and informal players. There are no official records from ministry of Mines and Steel Development on the actual volume of minerals exported out of Nigeria within the period under review. However, the few records available relates to transactions that were done by the formal players as they passed through the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Customs Service and Nigeria Export Promotion Council”. NEITI 2012 report conducted by Moore
Despite the fact that Gold and Barites were being mined across the nation, there is no record to show that these minerals are among the mined or exported minerals
Stephens of LLP 150 Aldersgate Street London signed by Tim Woodward on 31 December 2014 on Nigeria solid mineral said “Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Department failed to report revenues collected from mining cooperatives and from the Minerals buying Centre. These revenues were selected by the NSWG in the EITI scope through unilateral disclosure of the Government Agency. “This situation led to a significant amount of the discrepancies. Total revenue from the Solid Minerals Sector amounted to N31.449 billion in 2012. The revenue stream from the Solid Minerals Sector is composed of 84.18 per cent of taxes received by FIRS. Mining taxes received by MID and MCO represent 3.48 per cent and 2.24 per cent respectively. “According to the data collected from extractive companies and Government Entities, after reconciliation work, revenues generated from the Solid Minerals Sector amounted to N31.449 billion. These revenues include, in excess of the reconciled revenue amounting to N28.736 billion, unilateral disclosures of companies amounting to NGN 2,003 million and unilateral disclosures of Government Entities amounting to NGN 710 million: Government Revenues from Continues on page 23
igeria faces a number of attitudes, skills and culture, it challenges that can is vital that entrepreneurial only be met if it has innovative, education is addressed from well-educated, and an early age, besides, age is entrepreneurial citizens who, no barrier to entrepreneurship whatever their walk of life, have as Tony Hsieh of Zappos the spirit and inquisitiveness started selling worms from raw to think in new ways, and the mud when he was 9 years old, courage to meet and adapt to Steve Job, Richard Branson the challenges facing them. and Mark Zuckerberg of the Moreover, a dynamic economy, Facebook fame all started off as which is innovative and able young entrepreneurs. to create the jobs that are The time is ripe for us as a needed, will require a greater country to stop celebrating number of young people who mere certificates and are willing and able to become dormancy, while primacy and entrepreneurs, young people recognition should be given to who will launch and creativity, skills and successfully develop their own enterprising spirit. The present commercial or social ventures, times have shown over time or who will become innovators that the global arena is blind in the wider organisations in to your credentials but is a which they work. Because wealth creating slave to your education is the key to shaping skills and abilities. Anyway, it young people’s attitudes, skills is not your credentials that and culture, it is guarantees vital that success in the entrepreneurship g l o b a l / The time is ripe education is information age addressed from an for us as a but rather your early age. country to stop problem solving Entrepreneurship celebrating abilities, critical education is thinking ability essential not only mere that can discern to shape the certificates and ‘fact from fiction’, mindsets of young dormancy, and your ability to people but also to adapt (un-learn & give provide the skills re-learn), your and knowledge recognition to creative and that are central to creativity, innovative developing an skills and abilities and your entrepreneurial life-long love of enterprising culture. learning. If your It is important we spirit ‘piece of paper ’ embrace this failed to deliver ‘global age’ these then whilst paradigm in our education it may have successfully system as it has been done in prepared you for the China, India, Australia, industrialized 20th century Europe, U.S.A and of lately the economy but it has certainly Asian tigers (Malaysia, failed you in the globalized Singapore, Taiwan and the 21st. As Alvin Toffler puts it, Koreas).The most advanced ‘The illiterates of the 21st form of this new model is what century will not be those who is referred to as cannot read and write, but ‘TEACHERPRENEUR’, those who cannot learn Which Bill Gates was unlearn and re-learn’. It is the referring to in 2010 when he acceptance of this open secret said ‘five years from now on that should make policy makers the web, you will be able to find and the general populace to the best lectures in the world shift attention from the and it will be better than any conventional way of thinking single university’. that you must be a graduate This involves embedding before achieving success. Some entrepreneurial education into of the inventors such as Bill education and training right Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg from the primary school to dropped out of school to make secondary school and tertiary it in life because of their institution. The essence of this innovative, creative and is because education is key to enterprising spirit and not shaping young people’s