FG, CBN propose pre-shipment of inspection certificates

The Federal Government, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NSC) have hinted on a proposal to introduce pre-shipment inspection and issuance of Clean Certificate of Inspection (CCI) on all mineral commodities due for export.

The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, yesterday, made the disclosure during the presentation ceremony of the ministerial committee from the mineral sector on revenue optimization report.

The move, the committee informed, should be done by an appointed agent in line with the provisions of the Pre-shipment Inspection of Exports Act No. 10 of 1996 Cap. P25 L.F.N. 2004.

Submitting its final report to the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, the committee also urged the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development to strengthen the capacity of Mining Inspector Directorate (MID) by employing more mining engineers for effective monitoring of mineral production operations.

The Committee, headed by the Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Uchechukwu Ogah, advised that the Ministry should engage the services of N-power beneficiaries and NYSC members to assist MID in the monitoring of mineral production activities nationwide.

Responding, Adegbite, said two major mandate of the committee is to create employment and widen the revenue base of government.

The Minister also implored the committee to make improvements in revenue generation compared to the past with a target of N20 billion at the end of 2020.

“So if we are able to fulfill this, we would have scored 50 per cent and that is the pass mark.

“Everybody can see the quantum leap from what we made this year. We made  N5 billion, which is an improvement over the past.

“From 2.8 to 5 point something. Let’s look at the end of this year if we can achieve N20 billion. That would be four times higher than we realised last year. It’s possible. Revenue generated by some Federal Mines Officers (FMO) is not encouraging. Imagine a State like Lagos generating about N30 million a year.

“That is an average of N2.5 million a month and we don’t have an FMO there. A lot of construction work is going on in Lagos. Sand is being used.

So from sand dredging alone, you can’t tell me you are making N2.5 million every month. So it’s either somebody is not doing his work very well or something is wrong somewhere. I’m sure all these have been dealt with in the recommendation of this report,” he said.